Second Chances
by PiperPaigePhoebe01
Summary: Camp Rock. Mitchie never sang at the end of Final Jam; Shane never found his mystery girl. A year went by, yet neither of them forgot about each other. They both returned to Camp Rock the next summer, but little did they know what was about to occur...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing except the plot. Except I wish I owned Joe Jonas... or the rights to the sequel. Either one would be absolutely perfect.

**Author's Note**: I am _so _obsessed with this movie—my level of obsession is scaring even me. I keep getting numerous ideas for this fandom, all of which are going to be long, and all of which will be rolling around in my brain until I write them down. This is an idea I just thought of a few minutes ago, and I really hope you enjoy it! I guarantee that if you like _No Way to Hold It In_, you'll like this. And even if you didn't, hopefully you'll like it.

**Summary**: Camp Rock. Mitchie never sang at the end of Final Jam; Shane never found his mystery girl. A year went by, yet neither of them forgot about each other. They both return to Camp Rock the next summer, right in the midst of some of the most challenging and dangerous years the camp has ever seen. Will they find each other again, or will it be too late?

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter One

_This is real  
__This is me  
__I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
__Gonna let the light shine on me..._

Those lyrics run circles around Shane's head until he felt like screaming. They had been doing the same thing for a _year_, and still they wouldn't shut up. Half the time, he felt like shrieking to them "Be quiet!"

That's how much they drove him insane—they made him want to yell at voices inside his _head_.

"If I don't find her this year, I swear I'll have to check myself into a psych ward," Shane mumbled, unaware of the fact that he was in a limo and as such with the fellow members of Connect Three, Nate and Jason.

"What about a psych ward?" Jason asked, looking up from the magazine he was holding.

"Nothing," Shane said, not feeling like he wanted to talk.

"Come on, Shane," Jason persisted. "What's up?"

"It's the girl again," Nate said before Shane could say anything. "He's been pining over her all year."

"I have _not _been pining!" Shane said. "It's just that her lyrics are driving me _insane_! If I don't find her soon, I'll—" Shane trailed off, not sure _what _he would do if he never managed to find her.

"You'll find her this year," Nate assured him. "She can't hide forever."

"Can't she?"

"No," Nate said. "Especially as we've got a plan to help you find her. Jason?"

Jason looked up blankly for a moment, but then realization dawned on his face. He closed the magazine and put it beside him, reaching into his pocket for a folded slip of paper. He tossed it to Shane, who caught it easily.

"What's this for?"

"Open it and see," Nate said, wearing a triumphant smile on his face.

Shane slowly did so, reading what was printed on it.

**MISSING!**

_**GIRL WITH A VOICE**_

—here a clip art of a girl singing was centered, a musical note floating next to her mouth—

Last seen singing in Mess Hall last year

(_Turn to back for lyrics.)_

**IF FOUND, RETURN TO SHANE GRAY  
****(CONNECT THREE)  
IMMEDIATELY**

With a growing amount of amusement at his fellow group member's antics, he turned to the back of the paper, where, sure enough, the lyrics to the song were printed—the exact lyrics Shane had accidentally been heard singing for the past year.

Below these lyrics, Shane couldn't help laughing at the message below, printed in small letters:

**Attention: If any fangirls of Shane Gray try to pretend to be the girl with a voice,  
****the fellow members of Connect Three (Nate and Jason) will come after you.  
****Because, you see,  
****Shane Gray has been pining over this girl for a while,  
****and if he doesn't find her,  
****he'll be upset.  
****And we'll have to live with him singing that song for another year.  
****It'll be a waste of time to fake, because he'll know.  
****(And we'll know too, thanks to him.)**

Shane glanced up at Nate and Jason.

"I doubt this will work," he said, folding up the paper again.

"Why?" Jason asked, picking up his magazine once more (Shane could now see its cover, which had Birdhouses Monthly printed on the cover).

"Because what if the girl with the voice _isn't even at camp?" _Shane pointed out. "She might not even show up this year."

"Oh, she'll show," Nate said confidently.

"How do you know that?" Shane demanded.

Nate opened his mouth to respond, but at the moment, their limo eased itself into a stop. There was a clicking noise, and then the microphone crackled as a voice from the back spoke into it.

"We're here," it said.

-

Mitchie rested her head against the glass window, staring out into space. Ever since she and her mother had left their house for Camp Rock, she had been lost in memories, for lack of a better way to put it.

Some of the memories were happy, but one... one memory kept coming back to her mind, one that wasn't so happy. Mitchie took a deep breath as that memory washed over her, dissolving away her surroundings, even the seat she was sitting on, until she was almost back there again.

_"Mitchie."_

_There was the sound of footsteps walking across the wooden cabin, then a strong hand touching her shoulder. Mitchie jumped slightly, then turned around. The camp counselor, Mr. Brown, was standing there, two people behind him._

_Tess Tyler and Shane Gray._

_Frankly, Mitchie didn't know which one to be more scared of._

_"Yes?" Mitchie stammered._

_"Tess Tyler here told me that you didn't steal her bracelet."_

_Mitchie blinked. "But... but why?"_

_Tess Tyler didn't say a word_—_she simply shrugged. Mitchie noted the look on her face, which was one of disappointment and regret. She had heard what had happened at Final Jam last night (even though she hadn't been there herself), so maybe that was it? She wanted to continue thinking about this, but she wasn't given a chance as Brown continued._

_"We're sorry this didn't come to light until after Final Jam was over, Mitchie," Brown said, looking genuinely sorry. "We just felt like you should know. Or at least I did." He looked down at Tess, smiling softly. "Tess was a bit reluctant, of course."_

_Mitchie nodded, looking down. Normally she wouldn't be so shy, but Shane had just looked at her, which caused her to look down. Ever since Beach Jam, she hadn't been able to meet his eyes._

_"That's all I wanted to say," Tess murmured. "I think I'd better go pack now."_

_Tess didn't wait until Brown had given her the okay_—_she simply burst out of the room, leaving Mitchie alone with Shane and his uncle. There was silence for what seemed to be an eternity, and then Shane spoke._

_"I shouldn't be here."_

_He turned to go, but Brown put a firm hand on his arm._

_"Not so fast. First, I think it's time you and Mitchie worked something out. I hate being uncool by making you talk, but this is quite ridiculous. Go on."_

_"No," Shane burst out. "I'd rather not work things out."_

_"You_—_" Brown began in a slightly stern voice, but was cut off abruptly as Shane wrenched himself free of Brown's grip. He shot a look of hurt and disappointment Mitchie's way, then walked out of the cabin, slamming the door shut behind him._

Mitchie shivered as she wrenched herself free of the memory with a huge amount of effort. That was, by far, her worst encounter with Shane. In that moment, he had looked like he was so _disappointed _with her, like she had ripped his heart out and left it to rot.

_Or like I had gotten so close to him, told him I didn't lie, and then had my biggest lie ever get revealed a few days later_, Mitchie thought darkly. _Which is what I did..._

"Mitchie, are you all right?"

Mitchie looked at the driver's seat, where her mother was glancing at her, concerned. Mitchie forced her face into an expression of happiness, then nodded.

"Yeah, of course," she said, smiling. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You seem upset," her mother said. "Are you still thinking about what happened last year?"

Mitchie blinked, staring at her mother. "I..." She sighed. There was no use in lying, as she had already discovered. "Yeah, I am. I just hope this summer will be better than the last, that's all."

"I think it will be," her mother said. "This will be a fresh start for you."

Mitchie nodded, but didn't say a word. She returned to staring out the window—a few cars passed her, flashing colors dark or colorful across the used gray cement road. Trees passed by her eyes quickly, and she barely had time to notice the signs that said "Camp Rock—10 Miles" with the distances gradually getting smaller and smaller. As she got closer to Camp Rock, her heart began beating a quiet tattoo against her chest, her stomach constricting. She was happy to be there, she knew she was, especially now that she knew she was going to be able to participate, but still.

The memory of Shane Gray still made the joy a bit dimmer.

_Stop it, Mitchie! _she told herself. _Be __**happy**__! You're coming to Camp Rock again!_

Mitchie pushed thoughts of Shane Gray out of her mind, thinking about the dancing, the music, the food, the Jams, her friends... she thought about how she would be able to increase her vocal range, practice for Final Jam, canoe with Caitlyn Gellar and her two new friends, Ella and Peggy, and how she would be at the most prestigious camp for aspiring singers in the _world._

_I can't wait! _she finally found herself thinking.

Thankfully, it was only five minutes before her mother's catering truck pulled into Camp Rock. Her mother easily commandeered it to the side of the parking lot, making sure to usher teens out of the way before moving. They finally ground to a stop, and Mitchie looked out the window, setting eyes on Camp Rock again for the first time in a year.

It looked pretty much the same as it did last year—only a few things were new, like the newly painted sign proclaiming "CAMP ROCK". Last year, it had been a bit old, so apparently they had replaced it.

Mitchie grinned broadly, opening the door and hopping out, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She glanced around, searching for her friends, but before long, she was distracted by a long, sleek limo that pulled into the driveway, so much like the one Tess Tyler had rode in last year, but with some key differences. She watched with interest as the driver got out of his seat, walking around to the other door.

He opened the door, revealing the person who was inside.

Mitchie's smile gradually disappeared as screams started up. She dropped her bag, wanting to run as fast as she could, back home. Her heart pounded so loudly she felt as if it was going to burst out of her chest, and she couldn't help the surprised yell erupting from her mouth.

"_Shane?"_

-

**Author's Note**: So, there it is—the first chapter of my newest fic! This chapter started off a tiny bit slow, but the action will pick up in the next chapter, I assure you. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: Wow... I am _blown away_ at the number of reviews I've gotten, as always. I thought my other story was a "one-hit wonder," so to speak, but apparently, that's not so. Words can't really express how happy I am for all the reviews I've gotten, so... I'll just say THANK YOU to **IAMSOAP**, **Shizuku Tsukishima749**, **QueenSusanLovesKingCaspian18**, **blonde-gal**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **cutiepie100**, **RACHE BABYY x3**, **lala**, **Florchuchizz**, **cflat**, **Peachie-Trishie**, **geek'd**, **penguinsrpals**, **hollywoodgal205**, **Chaotic Light**, **Paupu**, **Wildx.xAngel**, **pink princess 16**, **Rei Tamashii**, **LosingTrack**, **KCMemory**, **Mandy94**, **cherry-blossom-101**, **AtemuManaLover**, **monko25**, and **The Sushi Monster**—I kept saying it, but I appreciate every single comment, so just... thank you. Also, a thank you to those people who continue to add this story to their favorite or alert lists. I just hope I can live up and deserve all the feedback I'm getting!

Hope all of you enjoy this chapter!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Two

Shane had hardly stepped foot outside his limo before the screams started. He smiled and attempted to make his way out of the crowd, but stopped in his tracks as a familiar voice shrieked his name.

He whipped around, suddenly meeting _her _eyes_._

Mitchie.

He wanted to look away, but found he could not, even as his heart tightened uncomfortably in his chest. He suddenly felt like storming away, but knew that if he did, people would talk. He kept his gaze with Mitchie, who stared at him, expressions of hurt and sheer terror on her face, before stooping down to pick up her bag, running as fast as she could away from the crowd.

Shane couldn't help feeling like she deserved it, but also couldn't help feeling like he just wanted to take off as well. He certainly wasn't expecting to see her this year and now that she _was_ here, _what _was he supposed to do?

_Storm away_ was the first option that came to his mind.

_That works_, he thought.

But first, he had to get away.

"Help," he said out of the corner of his mouth as Nate and Jason emerged from the limo. "The other girl I was telling you about is here."

Nate nodded and immediately set to work distracting the crowd gathering around the limo. Jason seemed to have spotted a few girls—he recognized the name of one of them, Ella—and began talking to them about his birdhouse, sufficiently distracting the crowd enough so that Shane could slip away, into the forest behind the parking lot. It was a moment before he found a place good enough to sit down, but he eventually did—there was a bench overseeing the lake that would be perfect.

He sat down on the bench, his thoughts immediately traveling back to the last encounter he had ever had with Mitchie. He found it funny that the last time he ever saw her, he had stormed away from her, and this time, they had both stormed away from each other.

Shane sighed. He still couldn't believe what she had done.

_Why did she lie to me? And why didn't I see it?_

He knew the answer to that: he hadn't seen it because he didn't want to see it. But now, he knew how stupid it is. He knew that Mitchie wasn't different from any other girl that came here. He had thought she understood, but apparently not.

_I should have known there's no way she could understand. She's the cook's __**daughter**__. She doesn't know what it's like to be a star..._

Shane let out a fed-up noise. He shouldn't even let her affect him this much. Why should he care about her, anyway? There was only one girl he cared about, and that was the girl with the voice.

Not Mitchie.

_After all, there's no way she could be the girl with the voice._

-

Mitchie found herself walking along the lakeshore, her heart still pounding as fast and as loud as it could. In all her wildest dreams—nightmares, really—she had never thought that Shane Gray would return to Camp Rock a second year. She now knew how stupid it was, considering the members of Connect Three loved Camp Rock, but there wasn't anything she could do about the past.

Michie sighed, walking a bit faster. The expression on Shane's face once he had heard her yell was nearly identical to the one he had worn so many months ago. It expressed the same amount of hurt, disappointment and anger on his face. In fact, it was almost as though no time had passed and they were back in the past, when Shane first discovered her secret.

_I never should have let Tess intimidate me..._

If she hadn't, none of this would have happened...

By now, Mitchie was at a run, trying to get as far away from that parking lot as she could. She needed to go somewhere where she could calm down, maybe sing a little, to get her mind off Shane. So she ran down the lake's shore until she reached a place where she could sit down—there were a couple benches a few feet ahead that would be perfect.

She emerged there a few seconds later and was about to sit on one of the benches when she saw him again. She froze in her tracks, slowly trying to get away from the clearing without alerting him to her presence, but—

_Crack._

—she accidentally stepped on a stick.

She froze again as Shane turned to look at her, his expression immediately hardening.

"What are you doing here?" he asked harshly. "Come to spread more of your lies this summer?"

"No, I—" Mitchie began.

"Or are you about to step it up a notch?" Shane continued, not letting Mitchie speak. "Are you going to try and get close to me and then lie to my face? Are you going to try to 'fit in' again?"

"Shane, I—"

"I really don't want to talk to you right now," Shane snapped. "You lost that privilege. I thought I could trust you and then you lied to me. You were never honest with me, were you?"

"Shane, I'm sorry!" Mitchie said, cursing herself as tears welled up in her eyes. "I never thought something like this would happen. Tess Tyler had somehow found out and then spread it around! I never meant to hurt you!"

"Oh, really?" Shane said, standing up. His entire body was stiff, his face displaying more hurt and anger than Mitchie had ever seen in her life. "I'm not surprised you'd blame it on Tess. You know, I think she is the best person in this entire mess because _she _didn't allow lies to spread around! _She's _the one who should be talking to me right now, not _you_! After all, if she didn't find out, when would you have told me your secret, huh?"

Mitchie grew silent. She looked down.

"That's all the answer I need," Shane said in a low voice, hurt seeping into every syllable.

"Shane, I would have told you eventually... I just..."

"Wanted to fit in, right? Wanted to be with the popular crowd for once?" Shane asked.

"Well, yes, bu—"

Shane shook his head. "Mitchie, I thought you were _different _than that," he said. "I thought you would never try to pretend to be someone you're not just to fit in. I thought you were happy being who you were, but apparently you're not. You _lied. _There is not one moment last year that you showed how you really felt. And that's what music is all _about."_

"I was going to, but..."

"You know what?" Shane interrupted. "I'm sick of your 'but's. There's nothing you can say that will make me forget what you did. In case you can't see it, I don't want to talk to you and, starting now, I don't expect to."

With that statement, Shane turned, storming away in the opposite direction, his hair ruffling slightly in the wind. Mitchie, whose eyes were rapidly filling with tears, slipped onto a bench. Using her bag as a pillow, she spread out across it, letting the tears fall.

If this was going to be a sign of what Camp Rock this summer would be like, she wanted to go home _right now._

-

**Author's Note**: I know, this chapter is incredibly sad, but I just had to establish Shane and Mitchie's relationship right now—it will get happier, but this is just the "introductory" chapter, I guess you could say. It's just establishing where our two favorite singers stand at the moment. But, even despite that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

And please review? Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**: I'm continually amazed by the awesomeness of this fandom... you continue to deliver great reviews! So, thank you to: **Animefreakkagome**, **Kage Mistress of Shadows**, **Shizuku Tsukishima749**, **blonde-gal**, **NorthernLights25**, **Peachie-Trishie**, **Invisable-rocker**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **pyrolyn-776**, **The Sushi Monster**, **hollywoodgal205**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **IncandescentAngel**, **choirsinger**, **penguinsrpals**, **QueenSusanLovesKingCaspian18**, **IAMSOAP**, **LosingTrack**, **pink princess 16**, **gred-forge-r-hot**, **MitsukixTakuto 4 ever**, **Florchuchizz**, **Angie-ange**, **Paupu**, **monko25**, and **cutiepie100**! Also, another thank you to the people continuing to add this story (and me) to their favorites and alert lists!

Please keep it up? Hope you enjoy this chapter! This chapter is going to be another one of those depressing ones, at least at the beginning, but I _promise _that it will get better. If I go back on my word, you have permission to hunt me down and tie me up until I write happiness.

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Three

It was nearly dark before someone found her.

Caitlyn Gellar, Mitchie's best friend from last year, had been worried when Mitchie hadn't immediately come running toward her once she arrived late at Camp Rock. She had been even more worried when Mitchie hadn't shown up at the introductory session, the First Day Jam, or the assigning of cabins. At first, she had thought Mitchie had just gotten held up in the kitchens—after all, for the last three things, Connie needed to supply food, so maybe Mitchie had helped that—but once Shane had appeared, nearly spitting mad, at the end of the cabin assigning, she knew.

Caitlyn removed herself from her friends' conversation, walking over to Shane. He was talking to his uncle in a low, fast voice, and as she moved closer, she could catch a bit of it.

"—come on, Shane, you're being ridiculous—"

"I am not—"

"Excuse me," Caitlyn piped up, interrupting their conversation. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I really would like to talk to Shane."

Brown nodded. "Of course," he said. "I'll leave you two alone."

And he disappeared into the crowd, leaving Shane staring at a spot right above Caitlyn's head, his eyes narrowed.

"Where's Mitchie?" Caitlyn said simply.

Shane's eyes snapped to hers. "How should _I _know?"

"Because I know you're the last person to have seen her," Caitlyn said. "If anyone else had seen her, she'd be here right now. But she's not, and you are, and you're angry, so it's not that hard to put two and two together. So, where did you last see her?"

"She'll come back," Shane said. "She always comes back."

"How do you know that?" Caitlyn snapped. "Damn it, Shane, just _tell me where she is."_

Caitlyn was surprised at her language—she never usually swore, since her mother and father had raised her against it, in one of the only families that did—but she didn't care. She was too angry. Shane was being _ridiculous. _He might be angry at Mitchie, but that didn't give him any right to allow her to be outside in the dark. She fixed Shane with a glare at this, hoping it forced him to fess up.

Fortunately for her, it did.

"Fine," Shane grumbled. "She was down by the lake. Can't give you directions where. I could probably get there, but I don't feel like going out in the cold to find her. You can handle it, can't you? I need to put up some signs."

_Oh, so you'd prefer me to go out in the cold to find Mitchie, who is probably freezing at the moment? _

Even Caitlyn now thought he was being a tad over the top, but she wasn't going to admit _that. _"Yes, I can handle it," Caitlyn said, only a trace of anger in her voice. "I'll be back."

Caitlyn didn't even bother waiting for his response as she walked out of the large cabin. She ran down to the lake, shining by the light of the moon with a faint silvery glow. If she wasn't in such a hurry to find Mitchie, she probably would have sat out there for a while to admire it, but since she was, she ran along it quickly, hardly even noticing it. Caitlyn ran as fast as she could, calling Mitchie's name—the camp grounds were surrounded on nearly all sides by a fence, but you never knew what might happen in the dark.

Finally, after about five minutes of running, she burst out of the tangle of trees along the shore, spying two benches. One of them was occupied—the long brown hair immediately betrayed the person to be Mitchie.

"Mitchie," Caitlyn said, but she didn't answer.

With slight hesitation, Caitlyn walked toward her, touching her lightly on the shoulder. Her breathing told Caitlyn that she was sleeping, but the small dark streaks down her face also told her that she had been crying. Cursing Shane to the depths of hell and back, Caitlyn gently shook Mitchie, who stirred back to life. Blinking back sleep—or maybe tears—Mitchie sat up, her eyes focusing.

"Caitlyn?" Mitchie asked groggily. "Is that you?"

"Yes," Caitlyn said. "And I'm about to march back to Camp Rock and _kill _Shane."

At the mention of Shane's name, Mitchie woke up all the way, her eyes filling with hurt. "Don't," she said. "It's not worth it. He wants me to avoid him from now on. He as good as said he never wanted to hear my voice again."

Caitlyn clenched her fists together. "I swear, I thought I could understand a bit of what was going through that _jerk_'s head, but apparently not. I can't believe how long he's holding this grudge."

"He's been hurt," Mitchie murmured. "You can't get angry at him for that."

"I can't get angry at him for being hurt. I know that," Caitlyn said. "But I can get angry at him for being such a jerk and not being able to let things go. I can understand him being hurt on the inside, but now... now he's gone too far. He wouldn't even tell me where you _were_. It's like he didn't even _care."_

"That's the thing, Caitlyn."

"What?"

"I don't think he does care."

-

The only thing Shane cared about at the moment was putting up the "Missing" signs for the girl with the voice. At first, he hadn't thought it was a good idea, but Nate and Jason had talked him into it. Besides, even if it didn't help find the girl with the voice, it got his mind off Mitchie. He hated what she had done to him, but he did have to admit that he didn't want her wandering around the camp grounds in the dark.

He shook his head at that thought. Hadn't he _just _said that putting up "Missing" signs got his mind _off _Mitchie?

"What's on your mind?" someone asked him suddenly.

Shane whirled around, looking at his uncle. "Nothing," he said.

"It doesn't look like nothing," his uncle said. "I saw you when you arrived at camp. It seems like nothing has changed between you and Mitchie, right?"

"Nothing _can _change," Shane said. "I don't want to get caught up in her lies again. Besides, you know me. I'll just concentrate on my music and finding that mystery girl again."

"And what if the mystery girl is Mitchie?"

Shane glanced at his uncle. "That's not going to happen."

"You never know that," his uncle responded.

"Yeah, I do," Shane said. He moved away from his uncle, walking over to one of the cabins. His uncle made the moves to follow him, but was abruptly sidetracked as a camper came up to him.

_Thank God._

Shane let himself into the cabin—since he was an instructor, he could let himself into cabins and such to put notices up—and walked over to the brown bulletin board. He tacked two pieces of paper to the bulletin board—one was the front side of the paper, the other was the back. That way, they wouldn't have to remove the piece of paper everytime they wanted to see the back.

He smiled at his work and walked back out of the cabin.

He was beginning to think that his fellow group members were right. These notices would work—he _was _going to find his mystery girl this year, even if it was the only thing he did this summer.

-

Mitchie and Caitlyn slowly made their way back to their cabin. Caitlyn was trying to cheer her up with stories of her life away from Camp Rock, and Mitchie was laughing, but she still couldn't forget what had happened with her and Shane. She wanted to, but it seemed like he was permanently stuck to her brain and nothing would pry him loose.

"_Mitchie... _are you even listening?" Caitlyn said.

"I'm trying," Mitchie said, shaking her thoughts free of Shane. "What did you say about your mother again?"

Caitlyn rolled her eyes at Mitchie, but retold her story from the beginning. Finally Mitchie seemed to let go—she found herself laughing at Caitlyn's retelling of her first days at Camp Rock a few years ago. In fact, by the time she returned to their cabin, thoughts of Shane Gray had all but disappeared from her brain, with only a bit of hurt and regret in her heart as they opened the door of their cabin.

"We're sharing this cabin with Lola," Caitlyn said. "You know her from last year."

Mitchie nodded and was about to say something. However, she was cut off by Lola's sudden shriek over by the bulletin board.

"Caitlyn, did you _see _this?" Lola cried as she turned around. "Mitchie, look over here!"

Mitchie and Caitlyn exchanged a look, but went over to the bulletin board. Tacked to it were the typical rules and lunch menus, but in the middle of the bulletin board, there were two new pieces of paper.

"Shane Gray is still looking for his mystery girl!" Lola explained. "And he wants to find her so much that he even gave us the lyrics to the song he heard her singing."

Mitchie's eyes fell immediately to the second piece of paper, reading the lyrics.

_This is real  
__This is me  
__I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
__Gonna let the light shine on me  
__Now I've found who I am  
__There's no way to hold it in  
__No more hiding who I wanna be  
__This is me..._

Mitchie stopped reading.

Shane's words echoed in her head.

"_I don't want to talk to you and, starting now, I don't expect to."_

"Oh _no_," Mitchie groaned, and sat down roughly on the nearest bed.

-

**Author's Note**: So... there you have it. Mitchie now knows she's the girl Shane's looking for, but knows she can't talk to him. Shane's completely rejecting the idea that Mitchie could be the mystery girl. Here comes the drama... (_grins_)

Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**: Wow. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to get this many reviews for one chapter—_thirty-seven?_ For _one _chapter? That is amazing, so a HUGE thank you to **dancerPat**, **Joe and Kevin Jonas Fan**, **IAMSOAP**, **blonde-gal**, **katie** (anon.), **tangledshadows**, **Maiqu**, **nec2012**, **nrisley19892007**, **Angie-ange**, **BBONES**, **ssncarmen**, **WalkingInDarkness737**, **NorthernLights25**, **Mackenzie Weasley**, **Nicole Kathrine**, **MsBadGirl**, **Shizuki Tsukishima749**, **Peachie-Trishie**, **penguinsrpals**, **KCMemory**, **anonymous **(anon.), **DancerGirlMitchie**, **hollywoodgal205**, **MissMadi**, **BitchyGurl-GetOverIt-**, **Florchuchizz**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **The Sushi Monster**, **pink princess 16**, **Invisable-rocker**, **QueenSusanLovesKingCaspian**, **monko25**, **Paupu**, **LosingTrack**, **Animefreakkagome**, and **MitsukixTakuto 4 ever**! Also, a great big thank you to those people who continue to add this story to their favorites and alert lists. (_hands everyone two great big virtual cookies)_

Hope you all continue to enjoy this chapter!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Four

"I'm the girl with the voice."

Mitchie looked up after this pronouncement, watching as her friends' faces changed from concerned to shocked in an instant. Lola seemed speechless, but Caitlyn looked as though she was bursting to say something but couldn't find the exact words she wanted to say.

"_What?" _she finally managed.

"I'm the girl Shane's looking for," Mitchie said again. "That's _my _song."

There was silence for a moment as Caitlyn and Lola both tried to process this. Mitchie looked down, fiddling with the hem of her dark blue shirt, her eyes cast on the fabric. Now that she knew that _she_ was the girl Shane was looking for, she no longer knew what to do.

_I can't tell him_—_he wouldn't believe me if I did... and if I kept it a secret, he'd be miserable and I don't want that..._

Mitchie let out a soft sigh and looked at her friends.

"I don't know what I should do," Mitchie said. "I mean, it's not like he'd believe me if I told him—"

"So don't tell him," Caitlyn said, finally finding the words. "If he doesn't find the girl with the voice this summer, so what? He deserves it after the way he's treating you. He's being a complete jerk, and he doesn't deserve to find you."

"He's just hurt," Mitchie murmured. "That doesn't mean he deserves to be miserable."

"Mitchie." Caitlyn's eyes flared. "If he was 'just hurt,' he wouldn't be acting this way. No, he's deliberately holding this over your head, and you _do not deserve that. _Don't you understand he's being a jerk? This has gone way too far, especially when he didn't even _care_ that you were out in the dark all alone."

"I guess, but..."

"No 'but's," Caitlyn said. "If I were you, I wouldn't tell him."

Lola nodded in agreement. "Remember my song last year?"

Mitchie thought about it for a while. "The one you sang on Open Mic Night?"

"Yeah," Lola said, smiling. "The lyrics went: '_Everyone is different but where we can agree is every girl wants her boy to treat her sweet.' _With how I see it, Shane's going to completely fall for this 'mystery girl' once he finds out who she is, no matter who she is." Mitchie opened her mouth to protest, but Lola cut her off. "That's just how I see it. So, you don't have to automatically fall into his arms once you know he's looking for you. He doesn't deserve that unless he treats _you _the way he should before he knows it's your song."

"I guess," Mitchie said slowly. "He _is_ being a bit of a jerk."

"A bit?" Caitlyn said, grinning.

"Okay, a lot," Mitchie corrected. "So... maybe I will keep it from him. Just for a while."

Caitlyn and Lola exchanged a look. "Good."

"Let's make him regret ever being such a jerk to you," Caitlyn continued. "Let's wait until he's _really _desperate to find you. You shouldn't reveal yourself until he's finally gotten some sense knocked into him."

Mitchie nodded, feeling part of what Caitlyn said made a lot of sense. "Yeah, okay," she said. "I guess he deserves to suffer for a while... but I will reveal myself sooner or later, when he stops being a jerk to me."

"How about at Final Jam?"

_That's too long_, Mitchie thought, and was about to protest when Lola added her opinion.

"That's a good idea," Lola said. "That gives us a lot of time to completely surprise him by your voice, just when he's given up on finding you."

"I don't know..." Mitchie began. "I don't want him to try to find me for that long."

Immediately Caitlyn and Lola began talking her around to their point of view. She _did _have to admit that they were making a lot of sense. After all, she _had _hurt him, and Shane no longer wanting to be her friend made sense, but he _was _taking it a bit too far in the "jerk" direction.

_And he wouldn't believe me if I told him right away... he'd think I was just trying to get close to him again..._

She sighed. Part of her wanted to agree to Caitlyn and Lola's ideas, but another part wanted to back away and not do _anything _about her being the girl he's looking for—just wait and see if he found her on his own. Of course, she was beginning to see flaws in her idea...

...and then found herself agreeing with Caitlyn and Lola.

"Fine," she found herself saying.

Caitlyn and Lola exchanged a triumphant grin.

-

It was the first full day of camp, and Shane walked down to the mess hall for breakfast. Everywhere he looked, he saw people clutching his "Missing" posters, pointing and whispering behind their hands as he passed. A few people even tried to sing a few lines of the song, but Shane walked a bit faster everytime they did—none of them could possibly be the girl.

_She's here somewhere, though. I just need to figure out where._

He shook his head. Wherever she was, she was clearly not going to reveal herself out of the blue, and he had to be patient.

_Except patience has never been my strongest virtue..._

Shane rolled his eyes at himself as he entered the mess hall. His eyes immediately fell to the piano tucked next to one wall—was his mystery girl going to appear here one day? Or would she reveal herself to him in another way? Would she even reveal herself at all, or would she be so shy that she wouldn't even sing the song in the shower because she was so afraid someone would hear her and alert him?

Shane shook his head at those thoughts.

_Why am I acting like a lovestruck eleven-year-old?_

As Shane headed to one of the circular tables practically bursting with food, he thought he understood the answer to that question: he was acting like it because he was _this _close to becoming lovestruck. It was a serious problem, and one he needed to remedy right away—even though he didn't particularly want to. Imagine what the press would say if they heard Shane Gray was _in love _with someone he hadn't even seen!

Shane walked over to the instructors' table and sat down. _I really shouldn't act like this._

_But I don't think I can stop._

He shook his head once more, then looked down at his plate. Since he needed to head to the cabin for the class he was instructing—Dance 101, like it had been last year—to set up, he ate quickly and steadily, ignoring the mess hall as it continued to fill up around him. As he scooped up his last bit of egg and put it in his mouth, Uncle Brown appeared once more.

"Hey, Uncle Brown," Shane said, thankful he didn't have time to talk. "I just got done breakfast and need to go set up for my lesson this morning, so I don't have time to talk."

His uncle fixed him with his patented "You're Not Going Anywhere Until I'm Done With You" look. "You never have time to talk," his uncle said. "Ever since you saw Mitchie you haven't had time to talk."

"I've been _busy_, Uncle Brown," he said.

"Not so busy that you can't spare a moment to talk to your dear uncle Brown," he said, sitting down in the seat opposite Shane. "If you're late to your lesson, it'll be fine—I'm late to my lessons half the time."

Shane wanted to protest, but his uncle didn't let him.

"Shane, you're bothered by Mitchie," his uncle said. "And I know she lied to you, but you're taking this incredibly out of control. At least you can try to be civil toward her. She doesn't deserve you treating her the way she has and, if you don't stop, I might have to take action."

At this, Shane rolled his eyes, but his uncle's severe tone—so normally light and humorous—cut back any protests he had. Instead, he stood up, picking up his plate. "I don't need the lecture, Uncle Brown," he said in a lower voice than he had intended. "I know what I'm doing. And if you'll excuse me, I need to go set up. We can talk later."

Shane ignored his uncle's sigh. Dropping his plate off in the designated place, he headed out of the mess hall, his thoughts traveling to the plans he had for his dancing lesson that morning. He just knew it was going to be amazing—ever since a month ago, when he had decided to come back to Camp Rock, he had had this plan in his head.

_And now I'm finally going to be able to do it._

Shane smiled. He quickened his pace as he got closer to the cabin. He hoped that nobody was there already—he had quite a bit of stuff to set up, and it would be easier if he didn't have any distractions—but his hopes were dashed as he entered the cabin and saw a group of three girls in the corner of the room, whispering quietly together. As the door creaked open, however, they turned to look at him.

_Of course_, he thought, his smile disappearing.

_It's just typical that Mitchie Torres is in my first class._

-

**Author's Note**: Well, okay. There's not so much drama in this chapter. It's just getting the characters where they need to be in order for the drama to occur. There are a few things I want to change here and there, but... I think it's a good chapter. I promise that there will be more drama in the next chapter—after all, Mitchie and Shane are in the same class. How can there _not _be drama?

But... anyway. Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: Hmm. I think you're getting tired of me squeeing about the reviews I somehow manage to get for this story, so I'll just say thank you to: **PaoHalliwell**, **Animefreakkagome**, **Peachie-Trishie**, **Just-Joy-4evea**, **im to lazy to write i story**, **supergurl03**, **Lega**, **blonde-gal**, **Banana Bun**, **Goodnite-And-Goodbye**, **katie **(anon.), **KungFunDuckie-x3**, **Gracefulfalling**, **sarah-disneystar**, **butterflygoodbye**, **havefaithrestart**, **lazydigitalbooklet.**, **pink princess 16**, **brucas224**, **JaBoyYa**, **x3bmnheartsx3**, **xXriujooXx**, **Runaway Rockstar**, **have-a-cookie**, **JeNNiFeR07** (anon.), **Mizz Stud Muffin**, **BlackMidnight1**, and **monko25**. Also, a continued thanks to those who added me or my stories to the favorites and/or alert lists. (_hands cookie_)

(This chapter takes place after Shane's set up, just so you know. I think it's obvious, but I'm sort of self-conscious like that... so, yeah, nothing happened between Mitchie and Shane while he set up, and this is when everyone else has already arrived and stuff...)

Here comes the drama...

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Five

Shane Gray turned to face the class.

"All right," he said, looking around at the teens in his class. His eyes glanced over Mitchie and her two friends, then came to rest on a few people in the group who looked like dancers. "As you all know, this is your dancing class. In this class, I'll teach you how to dance and sing at the same time, as some other things you might need to know. However, that's not going to happen today."

Shane waited until the whispers died down, then he pointed to the section of floor he had taped off earlier that morning. "Today," he continued, "we are going to have a dance off."

With that pronouncement, the room burst into excited chatter. It seemed like everyone was just waiting for a chance to let go in something like this—everyone immediately began dividing up into pairs, talking excitedly to each other. Shane grinned at their eagerness and waited until the chatter died down, which took quite a few minutes since it seemed _everyone _was excited.

"It looks like you're all incredibly excited!" Shane said as the teens stopped talking. "That's good, but who will set the bar and go up first?"

There was a flurry of hand-raising. Shane cast his eyes over the people who raised their hands—surprisingly, Mitchie and her friends weren't among them, even though he knew they liked to dance—and chose two people who looked like they were particularly willing to. The two he picked looked at each other in surprise, then stood up, looking a bit nervous.

"Okay," Shane said, leading them to the taped in area. "This is the area you can dance in. If you move out of this area, you'll be disqualified and the other person wins. You can take up as much space in this box, so long as you leave a small area for the other person to dance."

The two teens nodded.

"What are we going to be dancing to?" one asked, slipping off her short blue jacket and throwing it to one of her friends.

"Anything you like," Shane responded, "as long as I have it."

The other girl, the one who hadn't taken off her jacket, reached the pile of CDs next to the CD player before she could. She easily plucked a CD out of the pile, slipping into the CD player.

"Are we ready?" Shane asked as soon as the two girls were in the taped-in area. The two girls nodded, and Shane continued. "Good, but before we begin, I'll need your names so I can keep track of the winners."

"I'm Bella," said the girl on the left side of the area.

"And I'm Ari," the other girl said. "Aliena, really, but everyone calls me Ari."

Shane nodded and walked over to the CD player. He waited for Bella's signal, then pressed the play button. Some sort of jazzy hip hop music came on, and the two girls, Bella and Ari, launched into motion. Shane immediately knew he hadn't made the wrong decision by choosing them first—their dances were powerful, smooth and graceful, even though it was hip hop, perhaps the jerkiest dance invented.

Except... Bella seemed like she was set to impress. Her dance was powerful, her eyes blazing and her body moving almost too fast to see. Even though she kept to her "side" of the dancing area, everyone's eyes seemed glued to her moves and her dance. Ari was nearly as good, but she didn't command the attention that Bella did in the way she danced.

Their dance was over almost too soon—the music ended, Bella dancing to the very last beat of the music, and then there was silence for a moment as Bella and Ari stopped dancing. The sweat on their faces was now visible, but no one noticed as they applauded loudly. Shane joined in the applause.

"That was amazing, Bella, Ari," he said. "You both brought it."

Bella's cheeks flushed and Ari looked down, but he could tell they were both pleased. They walked back to their friends, whispering to them excitedly as soon as they reached them.

"Even though you were both fantastic," Shane said once he had given them time to squeal about their performance, "only one of you won your dance-off. Ari, I'm sorry, you were amazing, but Bella had something special."

Ari nodded. "Yeah, I know," she said in an unsurprised tone.

"Thanks," Bella said.

"You're welcome," he responded, amused as a blush colored Bella's cheeks vivid red. He turned to the rest of the group. "Bella and Ari's dances were amazing, but I'm sure there's more talent in this room than them. So, who wants to go next?"

Another flurry of hand-raising.

_This is going to be __**fun**_, Shane thought before picking two people at random. The process went similarly to Bella and Ari's now that they knew what to do, and both of them were fantastic, but again Shane only chose one winner.

This process went on for at least seven more pairs, until everyone was clambering for the chance to go next. Everyone was so talented, Shane reflected, but all the people who went had volunteered, and he knew that there were often numerous talents in the group that never raised their hands, too shy to go up on their own. So, for the tenth pair to go up, he decided to choose two people who hadn't raised their hands.

Of course, only three people didn't.

Lola, Mitchie, and Caitlyn.

_I am not about to call on Mitchie_, Shane thought as he passed his eyes over the trio. Last year, Caitlyn and Lola had proven that they were amazing dancers—even though people forgot the words to Lola's song on Open Mic Night last year, they would never forget the way she had commanded the mess hall that day, and one of Caitlyn's hidden talents was well-known (if that made sense) to be dance.

"Lola, Caitlyn," Shane said. Their faces immediately snapped up from their conversation together, and their expression hardened as they saw who had called their names. Shane ignored their looks, continuing on. "Why don't you come up?"

Lola and Caitlyn looked at each other.

"Because we don't feel like it?" Caitlyn said.

"Yeah, we just like watching," Lola said.

"That's not like either of you," Shane said. "You're both great dancers, so why not perform for us? You have nothing to fear—everyone would like to see you perform, wouldn't they?"

"Yes!"

The response of the rest of the class was so overwhelmingly in Shane's favor that Lola and Caitlyn couldn't refuse. They reluctantly stood up, heading to the taped-in box everyone danced in. Lola took one side, Caitlyn took the other.

"Music?" Caitlyn asked Lola.

Lola smiled and walked over to the stack of CDs. She flicked through them, finally choosing one. She put it in the CD player, returning to her spot. Lola and Caitlyn exchanged a grin.

"Let's go," Caitlyn said, gesturing to Shane to start the music.

He did so, and a quick hip hop beat came on. Caitlyn and Lola began their respective dances. They were both powerful, but in a different way—Caitlyn stayed in the same place most of the time, her arms and legs working easily to the beat, whereas Lola moved in and around the space they had to dance, her eyes blazing as she weaved a powerful web.

Shane had to say he was impressed. Caitlyn kept closer to the classic hip hop dance moves, but Lola added her own twist to it and worked it to her advantage. They were both pretty evenly skilled—Shane would have a hard time choosing the winner...

The music ended almost before he realized it. Caitlyn and Lola finished their dance-off, turning to Shane with their arms crossed, looks of almost-defiance on their faces. Caitlyn looked particularly hostile, almost as if she was hoping that her look would force him to change the particular thing about him that she didn't like, almost as if she thought he could read her mind.

_But, of course, that's obviously what she's trying to do._

_Is she still angry at me for what I said and did to Mitchie?_

Shane knew she probably was, but he pushed that thought out of his head as he picked a winner. It was hard, but he thought he enjoyed one of their dances better than the other.

"This is a hard choice," Shane said once the class's applause had died down. "Both of you were incredibly powerful, but I felt one of you was truer to yourself." He glanced at Mitchie's direction, noticing her apprehensive look. "Congratulations, Lola. I felt you were a bit more original with your style, and a bit more true to yourself during the dance."

There was more applause. Lola and Caitlyn headed back to their places on either side of Mitchie, whispering to each other. As they passed, he caught Caitlyn's whispered words.

"—of course, he's interested in 'being true to yourself,'" she said in a harsh, low voice. "The jerk."

Shane was _not _going to let that go.

"Caitlyn," he said, feeling the atmosphere suddenly change from something fun to something noticeably dramatic, like in a movie when something's about to go dreadfully wrong. "I know you may be upset because you lost, but that doesn't give you permission to call me a jerk during my lesson."

Caitlyn turned to him, eyes blazing. It looked like she was about to fight, and it looked like she had been ready for this moment for a _long _time. "Not even if it's the truth?" she asked, her voice as sweet as can be.

The class broke out into whispers again.

"Are you calling me a jerk?" Shane said.

"I would think that would be obvious," Caitlyn said, rolling her eyes. "But in case I have to spell it out, then Y-E-S. I am calling you a jerk."

Sniggers from the class.

"Caitlyn, you know the rules for insulting your instructor during class," Shane said warningly, not liking the way this conversation was going.

"So if I waited until after the lesson, I could call you a jerk as much as I like?" Caitlyn said innocently, and some people burst into laughter, Lola among them.

"_No_," Shane said. "I shouldn't be talked to this way, Caitlyn. If you do not stop right now, I'll be forced to go to Brown and tell him what's going on. I know this is a rule he enforces, _especially _with younger instructors like me."

"You shouldn't be talked to like this?" Caitlyn snapped angrily. "Do you really believe that? If so, you're more stupid than I thought you were, and _that's _a hard thing to accomplish. Can you really drive Mitchie to tears and be rude to her and not expect people to be rude back?"

"_Caitlyn_," Mitchie broke in, standing up. She looked distressed. "Don't do this."

"Mitchie, I hate to say it, but shut up," Caitlyn said quickly, shooting a look in her direction. "I'm the only one with enough _guts _to say that Shane is being a complete and utter jerk. _Everyone _else has gotten over Mitchie's lie, but no, not Shane, who is so superior that _he _can treat people he used to care about like crap and have no one call him out on it."

By now, the sniggers had stopped. Everyone was silent, their eyes trained on the drama enfolding right before their eyes.

"This is _not _about you, Caitlyn!" Shane snapped. "This is about me and Mitchie. What happened last year has nothing to do with you. She can defend herself—this is none of your business."

"If you would shut up about it, then it _would _be none of my business, Shane," Caitlyn snapped. "But it becomes my business when you are deliberately hurting my friend, not even _caring _about her."

"It's her fault!"

"It is not her fault! You can't blame her for just wanting to fit in!"

"Yes, I can!" Shane said, his voice rising to a near yell. "She should have known that trying to fit in doesn't do anything! She should have known her secret would get revealed and that it was better not to lie! She should have KNOWN!"

"She _didn't_!" Caitlyn yelled. "Damn it, why can't you see what she's going through?"

"_Because she's a liar!"_

"Oh, please," Caitlyn said. "Don't be all high and mighty. You're kidding me if you haven't lied! No, you're upset because she lied to you, because she's not perfect, because she wasn't completely honest with you! You're angry at her because she's _human_! You just want her to be so perfect, so honest, because you're used to the best. And you know what? I've got a newsflash for you: not everyone you meet is going to bend to your very will and be _perfect_!"

"I'm not expecting her to be PERFECT!" Shane yelled. "I just expect people I meet not to lie to me about who and what she is!"

Caitlyn opened her mouth to respond, her eyes blazing, but someone beat her to it.

"Shane!" Mitchie said. Shane turned, by this point so mad he could almost feel steam coming out of his ears. "This is _enough_! I lied last year about who I was, but in case you didn't know, I _never _lied to you in particular! I only lied because Tess Tyler intimidated me! You make it sound like I lied to hurt you, and that's not what happened! I _never _meant to hurt you!"

"Just because you never lied to _me_ doesn't make it any better, Mitchie!"

"I—" Mitchie began in a heated voice, but Caitlyn burst in.

"I can't believe you!" Caitlyn yelled. "I can't believe you can be such a JERK! Mitchie does _not _deserve this!"

Shane was now so angry he didn't care what he said. He was so angry he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Yes, she does!" he yelled. "She deserves EVERYTHING I've given her and MORE!"

At those statements, two things happened at once.

One: Caitlyn took a few steps forward and slapped Shane across the face.

And two: His uncle came in, took one look at the scene in front of him, and asked, in a voice that could freeze hell:

"_What _is going _on _here?"

-

**Author's Note**: So... there you have it. Both Mitchie and Caitlyn finally snapped, Shane got slapped, and Uncle Brown walked in at the worst possible time. In the next chapter, we'll see exactly why Mitchie snapped... and Uncle Brown's reaction to the whole episode.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**: Wow... I take it you all really enjoyed that last chapter, so full of drama as it was? I can't believe I got thirty-nine reviews for the last chapter, so I'll just say thank you to **SaphirePhoenix**, **Remember When It Rained**, **katie** (anon.), **SecretSoltice**, **Banana Bun**, **Konnichiwa Minna**, **zannessa-all-the-way**, **pyrolyn-776**, **brucas224**, **hollywoodgal205**, **Tifahh**, **Maiqu**, **epobbp**, **StargazingHighschooler**, **EllsBells08**, **xoxojoejonas**, **NorthernLights25**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **SuperKawaiiGal**, **creative-writing-girl13**, **blonde-gal**, **JaBoyYa**, **.x.WEiRD0-SECRET-GiRL.x.**, **McMuffin**, **monko25**, **jensfer**, **whiteclick101**, **xXriujooXx**, **Laylora**, **Runaway Rockstar**, **im to lazy to write i story**, **Tally B.**, **HCSBForever**, **have-a-cookie**, **nrisley19892007**, **House.Cam-xx**, **MidnyghtVampyrezz**, **-Me-Is-Coolio-**, and **BlackMidnight1**. I'm really glad you all continue to enjoy this story so much!

This is the punishment chapter... (_cackles evilly_)

And it takes place from Mitchie's POV, just so you know, since there have some questions as to why she didn't speak up sooner, etc.

Hope you enjoy!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Six

Shane, Mitchie, Lola and Caitlyn all began talking at once. Brown tried to follow them all for a moment but raised his hand once he realized he couldn't, effectively cutting off all of their stories. Wordlessly, he gestured for the rest of the stunned class to leave—they did so, brushing past the foursome as they went. A few of them actually _congratulated _Caitlyn on their way by, to Mitchie's surprise.

_I can't believe she __**slapped **__him... even though he did deserve it._

"I can't believe any of you," Brown said. "I have _never _seen anything like this in all the years I've been here. This is the only time I'm actually _willing _to be uncool."

Mitchie reluctantly looked at Brown. She took back what she said last year—this was the harshest she had _ever _seen Brown look, including the time he thought Mitchie and Caitlyn stole Tess's bracelet. She had thought Brown was always fun and laidback, but apparently not today.

"He deserved it," Caitlyn whispered darkly, and Mitchie heard herself agreeing with her.

_He's taken it too far now. I have no clue why he's holding this stupid thing over my head. Caitlyn's right, he's not worth my tears. If anything, I should have been the one to slap him._

"What was that?" Brown asked.

"I said, he deserved it," Caitlyn said in a louder voice. "It's his fault for not letting go of what happened last summer. I would slap him again if I could."

Brown glanced at Shane, noting the red hand-shaped mark blossoming on Shane's cheek. Mitchie was surprised to see it that red—Caitlyn hit him _that _hard?—but didn't let it show on her face.

"I can't let any of this go," Brown said. "Shane, I take it you said something about Mitchie and Caitlyn responded. There was a fight involved, which ended with Caitlyn slapping Shane." He turned to Lola. "Is that true?"

"Not something directly about Mitchie, but—" Lola began.

"You know what I say about 'but's," Brown said. "So, Shane said something not directed at Mitchie, and Caitlyn retaliated?"

"Only because Shane was spouting all this 'holier-than-thou' stuff about 'being true to yourself' and how you had to be 'true to yourself'—he obviously did it just to make Mitchie feel bad!" Caitlyn snapped.

Brown nodded. "I can see that," he responded. "Ever since Shane arrived here this summer, he _has _been bitter, but that doesn't excuse your behavior. You've all reacted out of turn, and you'll have to be punished."

"_What?" _Shane said, speaking out for the first time. "Uncle Brown, I never said that to make Mitchie feel bad."

"But you did say it, didn't you?" Brown said. "You did react, did you not?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"No 'but's," Brown said. "You are all at fault, some of you less than others, but you all need punishment."

None of the foursome responded, not even Lola, even though she didn't do anything. Brown seemed to be waiting for _something_, but what that something was Mitchie couldn't guess. She glanced around, at Shane's incredulous and annoyed look, Caitlyn's defiant look, and Lola's look of surprise and anticipation. For a moment, there was silence, until Brown spoke again.

"All of you need a lesson in being civil," Brown said. "Since it seems like all of you won't get over your differences and work all this out unless you're close, I'll be reassigning you all to the same cabin."

"_What_?" Shane said for the second time that day.

"Are you _kidding_?" Caitlyn added.

"Do you _want _them to kill each other?" Lola burst out.

Brown turned to Mitchie, who hadn't said anything. The idea still hadn't settled in—was she really going to share a cabin with Shane? _What _was going on? Wasn't there a rule against both genders sharing a cabin?

"Mitchie," Brown said. "You're the only one who has been quiet. What do you think of this whole thing?"

"Isn't there a rule against boys and girls sharing the same cabin?"

Brown nodded. "Interesting how that's the only thing you have to say," he said. "Yes, there is, but considering I doubt anything... unsuitable will happen between any of you while you work things out, I'm willing to bend the rules."

"I don't think this is a good idea," Mitchie said.

"Of course you don't," he said, "but you haven't got a choice. Either you work out whatever's got you all at odds, or one or all of you leave Camp Rock. I won't have this sort of drama going on every day."

Mitchie took a deep breath. Brown was giving them an ultimatum: either she or Shane left Camp Rock or they agreed to sharing a cabin together. She wasn't sure about Shane, but _she _knew what she was going to choose.

"Fine," Mitchie murmured.

"Good!" Brown said. "Shane? Caitlyn? Lola?"

"Fine," Caitlyn and Lola said as one.

That only left Shane, who was looking positively murderous as he glared at his uncle. It looked as though he was about to explode, but he kept himself together. Shane thought for a moment, then ground out his agreement.

"All right, then," Brown said. "It's settled. Except there's one more punishment to give out, unfortunately."

The foursome once again snapped to attention. At this punishment, it seemed like Brown was particularly unwilling to give it out, but apparently, he had no choice, because he turned to Shane and opened his mouth.

"Shane, this whole dramatic episode happened during your class," he began. "I would've liked to think you had enough self-control not to let it get that far, but you did. I think it would be better if you turned that class over to me."

"Are you _firing _me?" Shane said incredulously.

"Not in those words, but yes, unfortunately," Brown said. "It may be temporary. I'll take over your class until you can grow up and act like the instructor you are—until then, I'll find someone to run your class."

"I can't believe this," Shane said, his tone angry. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Too bad, because it is," Brown said. "Now, I think I'd better show you to your cabin. It's right next to mine, so if you try to kill each other in your sleep, I'll know and be able to stop you."

Mitchie knew the comment was meant to be funny, but no one laughed—they just nodded. Brown waited a few moments for someone to speak up, but when nobody did, he headed out of the cabin, the foursome following behind him. Mitchie followed behind Caitlyn, who was looking down at the ground, her feet hitting it so hard Mitchie almost believed Caitlyn was imagining it to be Shane's face.

Mitchie rolled her eyes at that thought, following Brown down the long dirt path to his cabin, then a little farther beyond, to the unoccupied cabin right next to his. This cabin _looked _small—Mitchie felt it was too small to fit two people, let alone four—but as she entered, she saw why. Most of the cabins were only one floor, but this was two, stairs leading up to the second floor.

"There are two beds on the first floor and two on the second," Brown said. "You'll have to decide who will be on which floor."

"I call second!" Mitchie and Shane both said before they realized the other had. With nearly identical looks of horror, they looked at Brown, who had a scheming expression on his face.

"Well, that's settled too," Brown said. "Mitchie and Shane took the second floor, which means the first is free for Lola and Caitlyn. I hope this is the last time I'll have to discipline you four."

And with that, Brown left the room, leaving the four to look at each other.

It looked like no one knew what was going to happen next and, if Mitchie was honest with herself, she didn't _want _to know what was about to happen.

-

A half hour or so later, Mitchie dropped her bag on her bed, looking around the small room she was going to be sharing with Shane until they worked out all their differences. She did have to say it was nice and cozy, even though the presence of Shane's guitar and bags on his bed wasn't particularly one to jump around and be excited about.

She shook her head.

At least she wouldn't have to worry about getting into arguments with him, right? Or crying about him whenever he refused to listen to her story and stormed away?

_Right._

"At least I hope I'm right," Mitchie said, walking down the stairs to the first floor. Caitlyn had asked her to meet up with Peggy, Ella and Lola down at the docks before they went down to their next vocal class, and she didn't want to be late.

She expected they were around down by the docks, so she was incredibly surprised when she found Caitlyn sitting on her bed, an anxious look on her face. As soon as Mitchie touched down on the first floor, Caitlyn jumped up.

"Mitchie! I just realized something!"

"Yeah?" Mitchie said, confused. "What is it?"

"Well, Shane is living with us now, right?"

Mitchie nodded.

"And he's still looking for that mystery girl, which is you," Caitlyn said.

"Yeah, Caitlyn..." Mitchie said, not understanding where she was going with this.

"Everywhere we look, people are looking for you, the mystery girl Shane must like," Caitlyn said. "We're planning on revealing you to him at Final Jam, but we can't let anyone find out it's you before that, least of all Shane, so we decided to practice _only in our cabin _so that no one could overhear and tell Shane it's you."

Mitchie let out a gasp—she now knew where Caitlyn was going with this.

"Oh _no._"

"Yes," Caitlyn said. "Shane being in our cabin and not having classes to go to anymore means that he'll be here pretty much twenty-four seven, so that means that—"

"—we won't be able to practice for Final Jam without him figuring out it's me," Mitchie finished.

_This... just added a whole new level of complications to our entire plan..._

-

**Author's Note**: Hmm. Shane being in their cabin really _does _put a damper on their plans, doesn't it? Hope you enjoyed that new level of complication to this story!

And also, for those people who also follow _No Way to Hold It In_: Would you want to have another chapter of that story or would you rather me write a one-shot or two that have been rolling around in my head? Because my inspiration for this story and other one-shots are growing, and my love for _No Way to Hold It In _is fading slightly, so it really depends on what you'd like. So: one-shot or new chapter? Thanks for any opinions!

And again: Please review this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**: I'm _speechless. _Did my readers seriously give me SEVENTY-THREE reviews? That's... that's... I don't have words, so I'll just give a **huge **thank you to **Princess.KaylZ-808**, **Troyella4everinluv**, **shayoom**, **jblover101**, **havefaithrestart.**, **Florchuchizz**, **SHAWTii328**, **Lega**, **cuppycakes**, **kymie29**, **House.Cam-xx**, **Clana621**, **whiteclick101**, **Aria **(anon.), **SecretSoltice**, **dancerPat**, **jonasbrotherlove227**, **IAMSOAP**, **StroodleDoodledFuhn**, **mina **(anon.), **Nicole Kathrine**, **loverof2day**, **You Are My Brand of Heroin**, **xoxojoejonas**, **Bree **(anon.), **xXriujooXx**, **epobbp**, **JaBoyYa**, **MitsukixTakuto 4 ever**, **butterflygoodbye**, **WalkingInDarkness737**, **choirsinger**, **ScribblingKunoichi**, **Konnichiwa Minna**, **GreysAnatomy-TamoraPierce-Fan**, **tangledshadows**, **Noorah**, **brucas224**, **Anglefacedcutie**, **Maiqu**, **aly05**, **Goodnite-And-Goodbye**, **Paupu**, **if.looks.could.thrill**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **jax **(anon.), **hollywoodgal205**, **DancerGirlMitchie**, **MissMadi**, **McMuffin**, **BlackBeauty613**, **Marissa-Xtreme Haley Fan**, **AmandaMandyME**, **creative-writing-girl13**, **pyrolyn-776**, **OhcaeHaras**, **The Sushi Monster**, **LosingTrack**, **kymie29**, **charmedNluckyP3**, **geek'd**, **BlackMidnight1**, **jensfer**, **EllsBells08**, **PutYourSmileOn**, **meminenotyou**, **sailor-moon-mew-rasberry**, **Banana Bun**, **katie **(anon.), **QueenSusanLovesKingCaspian18**, **mangostango**, **monko25**, **NorthernLights25**, **Runaway Rockstar**, and **Interlocking Pieces**. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to get this many reviews for one chapter before, so thank you!

Also, before I forget: about the cabin idea, I was inspired by **pyrolyn-776**, so if you liked that twist to the story, thank Pyro, not me, because she thought of it. :)

Please enjoy this chapter, even though it's from three different POVs, something I don't usually do!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Seven

The rest of the day passed without further incident. Mitchie often saw Shane on her way to their few lessons, as did Lola and Caitlyn, but they all ignored each other as best as they could. Mitchie and Caitlyn tried to think of a solution to their rehearsal problem, but everything they came up with fell flat. By the time they returned to their cabin that night, they were exhausted.

"What are we going to do, Caitlyn?" Mitchie asked, plopping down on Lola's bed.

"I don't know," Caitlyn said. "I mean, we could practice here whenever Shane isn't, but how do we know how long he'll be gone? And he could accidentally come in while we're rehearsing and find out..."

"Lola could keep watch?" Mitchie offered.

"Sometimes, yeah," Caitlyn said. "But what if we want to practice and she's not here? Then we won't have anyone to keep watch while we practice and Shane could easily barge in."

Mitchie sighed. "Good point," she said. "We just don't have many choices, Caitlyn. Either we practice here when Shane's not here or we risk practicing somewhere else. We're going to risk getting revealed either way, if we really do want to sing in Final Jam."

"I guess," Caitlyn said. "Of course, we could always go into the forest to practice—there's a few places to take a guitar and stuff. We'd have to be careful how long we stayed out, though, since we shouldn't stay in the forest after dark."

"That could work," Mitchie said.

"Hopefully," Caitlyn said.

"It better work," Mitchie responded. "If it doesn't, then what would we do then?"

Caitlyn dissolved into silence for a moment and Mitchie thought about what she just said. She had never thought of this latest complication, not until Caitlyn had brought it up, and now that she knew about it... how in the world was she going to practice? If Shane never found out about her being the girl with the voice, it was going to be an utter _miracle._

_I hope he doesn't find out on his own. If he does... it would be __**bad**__._

"I don't know," Caitlyn said suddenly, "but we shouldn't think of that, I think."

"Yeah," Mitchie agreed. "I think we should just try to practice, and if he finds out, then... he finds out. We'll figure out where to go from there."

Caitlyn smiled. "Okay."

"So, we decided?" Mitchie asked Caitlyn. When she nodded, Mitchie stood up. "All right. I think I'll go upstairs and work a bit more on my songs, maybe work on the song I want to sing for Pajama Jam."

"You want to sing at Pajama Jam too?" Caitlyn said, surprised. "You didn't tell me!"

Mitchie turned with her foot on the bottom step, a mischievous smile on her face. "Oh, I didn't?" she said. "I'm sorry; it must have slipped my mind!"

She couldn't help laughing as she imagined the shock on Caitlyn's face, but she didn't turn around. Instead she bounded up the stairs, emerging on her floor a second later. As she saw Shane lying on his bed, however, she froze, wondering if he had heard her. Sure enough, the answer came quickly, when Shane bolted upright, looking at the top of the stairs.

"Hi," Mitchie said softly.

Shane looked as though he wanted to yell, but kept himself contained.

"Hi," he said. "What are you doing?"

"Um... sitting?" Mitchie said, walking over to her bed and sitting down. "What are _you _doing?"

"Thinking. And sitting," Shane said shortly.

Mitchie nodded.

There was silence.

"Listen," Shane abruptly said and Mitchie looked over at him. "I don't like this situation any more than you do. This sucks, and there's nothing I wouldn't do to get out of this cabin, but my uncle is clearly not going to let us out of here until Final Jam. That's just the type of person he is. So I'd prefer it if we weren't constantly in fights. I still don't like you, but..."

"We should be civil, I guess," Mitchie said.

"Yeah."

"This would be much easier if you would listen to my side of things, Shane," Mitchie said.

"There's nothing you can say that will make me forget what happened last summer," Shane said quickly. "I'm willing to cut out the fights, but that doesn't mean we have to _talk."_

Mitchie rolled her eyes. "All I was asking was for you to hear my side of the story," she said. "I wasn't asking you to like it or agree with it. I just want you to hear it."

"There's no point."

"Oh?" Mitchie said, leaning back on her bed. "Isn't there a point if hearing my side helps us get along?"

Shane didn't answer.

"Well?"

Silence.

Mitchie shook her head—Shane was being immature by not responding. They had only been at camp for a day, but Mitchie had already learned not to let Shane get to her any more than he already had. Except he _was _annoying her.

"Shane," Mitchie said.

"I guess," Shane grumbled finally.

Mitchie smiled. "Much better."

Shane rolled her eyes at her. He glanced out the small window beside his bed—it was pretty much dark, considering Mitchie and Caitlyn had only gotten back from the Open Mic Night a few minutes ago and that went on much longer than expected.

"I'm going to bed," Shane mumbled. "And I'm changing."

Mitchie blinked. "Thanks for the info, Shane."

"Not funny," Shane said in a frustrated voice, as if he didn't know why in the world they were having a halfway civil conversation with each other. "Now, don't look."

"Wasn't planning on it," Mitchie said, swinging her legs over the left side of her bed, away from Shane, staring fixedly at the wooden wall as a creak from Shane's bed alerted Mitchie to his movement.

There was a sound as though a zipper was getting pushed down, then a rustling of bags opening and clothes moving. Mitchie rolled her eyes as she heard and not saw Shane drop his shirt and jeans in the beginning of a pile next to his bed.

Then there was the rustling as Shane apparently pulled something over his head.

"Okay, you can turn around now," Shane said.

Mitchie did so just as Shane sat down on his bed. Shane had changed into some sort of black undershirt and boxers. Mitchie blinked a few times at his choice of sleepwear, but turned away quickly as Shane glanced in her direction.

"My turn, is it?" Mitchie said easily, wishing more than anything that there was a bathroom in their cabin.

"Sure," Shane said, turning around.

Mitchie quickly took out her pajamas—a blue spaghetti-strap top that she quickly followed with a tank top in the same color and green pajama bottoms—and pulled them on, diving into bed as soon as she had them on.

"Done."

Shane nodded and glanced once in her direction, then slipped into his bed, turning off the light on his bedside table. Mitchie sighed—she wasn't able to work on her song, after all—and turned off her own light, snuggling under her covers and closing her eyes. The last thought Mitchie had before she fell asleep was one hoping that this awkward peace between her and Shane would last for a while yet.

-

Shane listened to Mitchie's soft breathing.

He found it hard to believe they had actually had a halfway civil conversation with each other, yet that was exactly what happened. Admittedly, they hadn't said anything useful, but at least neither of them had yelled at each other—not that Shane didn't want to, of course. If he had his way, he _would _have yelled at her, but he knew that if he did, Caitlyn and Lola would get angry with him once again.

_And I don't particularly want to get slapped again._

Shane shifted on his bed, now facing the wall. This whole _situation _was ridiculous. No matter _what _his uncle or Caitlyn said, he believed he was acting the only way he knew how. Sure, it got him in trouble, but oh well.

_The only thing I could do then was yell, but apparently we're never going to get out of this situation unless I try to be nice, so I don't really have a choice in the matter anymore._

_Either I be nice or I leave Camp Rock._

Personally, he would take the first option over the second any day—that's why he grudgingly agreed to stay in the cabin, even though the idea of being with three girls, all of whom didn't like him, was not one to be happy about.

Shane groaned lightly and buried his face beneath his pillow, trying to block out the thoughts of the _long _summer that was about to follow him. He closed his eyes, tried to block out thoughts of the next month, failed miserably, and yet still managed to finally slip off to sleep, his last thought before sleep overcame him being one of the mystery girl, who now seemed like the brightest spot in this entire summer.

-

The next morning dawned bright and sunny. As Brown headed down to his first vocal class of the morning, he smiled at the sight of the aspiring musicians alternatively heading down to the mess hall for a late breakfast or hurrying down the dirt path to the first class they were going to that morning. It was always fun to watch them, but at the moment, Brown had more important things to think about.

_I have no clue what's up with that nephew of mine..._

He hoped that sharing a cabin with those three girls would knock some sense into him, but he could never tell—his nephew could be awfully stubborn sometimes, especially when he believed that _he _was right and that he could act in any way he pleased. He never seemed to realize that he couldn't just act whatever way he wanted to, and that was something Brown had to get out of him.

_He's much too stubborn for his own good._

_Being with those girls might help him get over that._

Admittedly, though, that wasn't the only reason he wanted Shane to share a cabin with Mitchie. You see, Brown had a secret—he was nearly one hundred percent sure that Mitchie was the one Shane had heard last year. It might sound insane to some people, but for Brown, it made perfect sense. Mitchie had the voice to carry off the lyrics Shane had sang to him last year, judging from her performance last year in his class.

And it was well-known Brown had a sixth sense about things like that.

Brown smiled. If he was right, then he knew something good was going to come out of it. If Mitchie had figured out his loophole last year in his statements, this could have been resolved already, but...

_Hey. This way is much more fun._

Brown reached the cabin his class was taking place in. He had a plan, and hopefully it would work. Most of his plans of this type usually worked, but then again, Mitchie and his nephew weren't part of the normal crowd.

But maybe that was a good thing.

Brown smiled a bit more as he entered the cabin, looking around at the class gathered in the room. Music was playing from a CD player in the corner, and everyone was dancing and singing along. He cast his eyes over the group, noting Mitchie, Lola and Caitlyn dancing close to each other in the middle of the room. Shane was in the very back of the room, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hello, all!" Brown said loudly to the class. "Did you start all the fun without me?"

"Brown!" a few people said as they saw him. Someone else turned off the music, leaving the class in silence. Somehow, everyone grew silent, waiting for Brown to begin his lesson.

"All right!" he said, clapping his hands together—time to put his plan in action. "How many of you would-be singers write your own music?"

Several people rose their hands, Mitchie among them.

_Good, good, she's not denying it._

"And how many of you are willing to share these songs? We'd all love to hear them!"

No one's hand went down.

_Even better._

"Hmm."

Brown pointed to each person in turn, biding his time until he reached Mitchie.

"You," he said, his finger pointing to Mitchie. "The finger doesn't lie, as you know. So, why don't you come up and sing a Mitchie Torres original? I'm sure you've got a lot of songs ready."

"Well, one or two, but—"

Brown shook his head. "Obey the finger."

Mitchie took a deep breath. "Well... okay," she said, standing up.

She walked up to the front of the group. Brown glanced at the group, specifically Shane—his eyes seemed to narrow, but he sat up a bit straighter in his chair, clearly interested.

"Go ahead," Brown said, smiling.

Mitchie took a deep breath, then began to sing, her voice a bit more developed than Brown had remembered it as. He found himself concentrating on the lyrics to the song, the way any good singer makes you do.

_The night is getting darker  
__And soon the stars will be falling down to rescue us  
__Sing a song for me  
__Lift me higher with your words  
__Sing that cold melody_

_So follow me onto the moonlight sidewalk  
__And take my hand  
__Grip it tighter  
__And don't let go..._

Mitchie trailed off, looking apprehensively at Brown and the crowd. Everyone looked incredibly impressed, causing Mitchie herself to look incredibly surprised. Brown, however, smiled broadly, feeling victorious.

Those lyrics reminded him of one other song he had heard.

_I was right_, he thought. _That voice is meant to carry off a song like that._

_And the song Shane's mystery girl sang._

Brown easily congratulated Mitchie on her song, deep in thought.

There was no doubt in his mind that Mitchie was the mystery girl Shane was looking for. There was also no doubt that Mitchie knew, and was not going to tell Shane until much later, when they actually got along.

If it was possible, his smile got bigger.

He just _knew _his punishment was going to pay off...

-

**Author's Note**: Heh, I love Uncle Brown, don't you? He is just _so _fun to write. And the scene where Shane changes... hehehehe, that was so much fun to write too. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and, believe me, the drama between Shane and Mitchie is _far _from over, so stay tuned!

Oh, and the song Mitchie sang is Demi Lovato's song, Stronger, just so you know, and I definitely don't own it, just to insert that disclaimer here.

Also, about my question last chapter—I decided to write a collection of ShaneMitchie ficlets. If you go to my profile, you'll see a new story titled _Finding Each Other. _The first ficlet is up, so if you haven't seen it and would like to read it, I wouldn't mind a bit more feedback! I'd really appreciate just getting more people reading it, as well, because I think it'll be a really nice collection.

And again: Please review, even though I don't think I have to tell you that now... :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note**: Oh my... you guys really know how to flatter an aspiring author, don't you? It's hard to believe you all love my story enough to review and not only review, but give me great feedback, so another huge thank you (and a big dessert of your choice) goes to **PutYourSmileOn**, **ScribblingKunoichi**, **Vrai Amour**, **jesscaa**, **xxZacBabyVxx**, **JaBoyYa, Toshiba19**, **JoBroHSMfanatic**, **XxhAPPyJoNASfANxX**, **Florchuchizz**, **dancerPat**, **ShikallllTema**, **not so random**, **skittleysweet**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **Nikkieee02**, **ashlee09**, **Kurukus**, **butterflygoodbye**, **pr0udpnaii x33**, **foolwiz**, **musiclvr21**, **Noorah**, **nrisley19892007**, **Konnichiwa Minna**, **katie **(anon.), **jonasxsister**, **Live Like Music.**, **KimberlyCullen**, **Shizuku Tsukishima749**, **PaoHalliwell**, **EllsBells08**, **have-a-cookie**, **JustASmile**, **creative-writing-girl13**, **NorthernLights25**, **JonasLover22**, **milkteaxoxo**, **NiCkJjOnAsIsMiNe4EvA**, **sernity1806**, **SHAWTii328**, **if.looks.could.thrill**, **BlackBeauty613**, **supergurl03**, **Dancer4life15**, **xXriujooXx**, **Mina **(anon.), **Anglefacedcutie**, **Interlocking Pieces**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **Rei Tamashii**, **Ange-ange**, **hollywoodgal205**, **Troyella4everinluv**, **xoxojonasbrothersluva101xoxo**, **charmedNluckyP3**, **pink princess 16**, **freaky-callback-girl**, **Nicole Kathrine**, **QueenSusanLovesKingCaspian18**, **Paupu**, **pyrolyn-776**, **Butterflygrl08**, **monko25**, **Princess.KaylZ-808**, **LosingTrack**, **IAMSOAP**, **Maiqu**, **epobbp**, **House.Cam-xx**, and **afta4ever**!

Hope you like this chapter!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Eight

A week and a half passed.

Nothing out of the ordinary occurred—Shane and Mitchie only talked while necessary, Lola and Caitlyn not talking to him at all, and soon enough, their stay in the cabin together seemed to be working out quite well. Even though Shane and Mitchie were bottling up everything they wanted to say to each other, it seemed like they were uncommonly good at holding in their sarcastic retorts for the peace of the whole cabin.

Unfortunately, that was not meant to last.

After all, Shane was not good at holding in his feelings, especially not when he just wanted to yell. As day after day went by, and it seemed like his interactions with Mitchie were becoming exactly the same, he was getting restless—wasn't there something he could do to shake things up a bit? If there wasn't, and this went on for much longer, he was going to _explode._

For the past few days, he had been getting increasingly frustrated with his situation. Every little thing Mitchie did, it seemed, annoyed him, whether it be a simple "turn around" when she was changing or a whispered curse as she stubbed her toe early in the morning. It was becoming extremely hard to ignore her when she whispered the lyrics of the song she was writing under her breath beneath her covers at midnight, when he would normally have been fast asleep. He knew that if something else went wrong...

_Well, let's just say I hope my uncle won't be around when I finally explode._

Shane shook his head. _This _was why he didn't want to share a cabin with Mitchie—there were too many excess feelings to just ignore them, and Shane was too stubborn to ever admit that Mitchie had been right and that they should talk about things.

He had already decided it would be better to just ignore her, but it was proving to be harder than he had expected it to be. No matter what, it seemed like they were always in the cabin and, more than that, it seemed like they stopped doing something important every time he walked in. To be honest, it was the most annoying thing Mitchie had ever done, and he was soon getting sick of it.

And so he found himself staying out of the cabin as much as possible.

_It's odd feeling like you're not welcome in your own cabin_, Shane thought on one of those days when he didn't feel like going into the cabin and hearing Mitchie, Caitlyn and Lola abruptly stop their conversations. He had decided to walk along the lake as he usually did, but once again, nobody was out on the water—everyone was either in classes or in the mess hall.

Except him, of course.

He finally reached the place on the edge of the lake with the two benches, sitting on one of them. He looked out across the water, deep in thought.

He knew he wasn't going to be able to ignore Mitchie for much longer. Part of him was incredibly fed-up and annoyed with everything she did, but another part of him was trying to get his feelings to let him confront Mitchie about what was going on. Reason _knew _that things would be better in the long run if he talked over things with Mitchie, but the emotional part of him refused to.

_And one of them is going to beat the other up._

_Even though I'm not sure which one that's going to be._

Although... he was leaning toward the "continue being fed-up" route. For some reason, he just didn't _want _to talk to her anymore. He hadn't wanted to talk to her before, but now, he was particularly unwilling to.

_It's because of Uncle Brown's lesson, I think. It's like he's particularly impressed with her, and it's almost as if he knows something I don't know about her singing._

Restlessness overtook him again at that thought. He stood up, walking back to the cabin. He did have to admit that Mitchie's singing was interesting—it made him think, almost as if there was something he should remember but didn't. That song she sang the second day at camp sounded similar to _something_, but whenever he tried to fish it out, it retreated deeper into his mind.

But his uncle knew the similarities.

There was no way he couldn't—the huge smile Uncle Brown had on his face after Mitchie had finished singing gave him away. He knew why Mitchie's voice seemed so familiar, but he was determined not to tell him.

_Well... I'm determined to find out._

Shane quickly walked through the camp grounds, looking around for his uncle. He had to be around somewhere, considering he always wandered around the grounds whenever he wasn't in a lesson and, if Shane remembered correctly, his uncle no longer had any lessons for the day. Sure enough, Shane was right, and found his uncle heading back to his cabin, only a few minutes after beginning his search.

"Uncle Brown!" Shane called.

His uncle stopped and turned around. "Shane!"

"You know something," Shane said, easily catching up to Uncle Brown. "I've been thinking about Mitchie's song. You had an interesting reaction to it. Why?"

"You haven't figured it out yet?" his uncle said, a devious look on his face. "I'm surprised. You're normally more perceptive than this."

"Figure _what _out, Uncle Brown?"

His uncle grinned. "You'll understand when you figure it out."

Shane rolled his eyes. "That doesn't help," he said. "Why aren't you telling me anything?"

"Oh, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you," his uncle said. "It will be better if you found out yourself. Maybe if you head to your cabin right now you can figure it out."

And with that, he turned, heading back in the direction he had been going in before, leaving Shane to stare at his back, confused out of his mind.

"_Maybe if you head to your cabin right now you can figure it out"?_

_What is __**that **__supposed to mean?_

Shane didn't know, but he found himself heading to his cabin regardless. He walked up the steps, hoping that Mitchie and Caitlyn weren't about to stop talking as soon as he entered the cabin, and luckily they didn't—the first floor was surprisingly empty. Wondering what in the world his uncle was up to, he headed up to his own floor, stopping in his tracks as he saw Mitchie.

On his bed.

Reading a song.

"_What _are you doing?" Shane snapped, feeling anger rise up inside him.

Mitchie looked up, startled. "Shane, I—" she began.

Shane didn't bother waiting for Mitchie to respond. He half-ran, half-stomped to his bed, tearing the paper out of Mitchie's hand. Sure enough, it was exactly what he thought it was—it took him only a few minutes after reading the first few lines to know she had read his song.

"How _dare _you?" Shane said angrily.

"I'm sorry, Shane," Mitchie said quickly. "I just—"

"—decided to snoop around my stuff, did you?" Shane asked, knowing he was being unreasonable but didn't care.

"It was right in the open," Mitchie defended. "How could I not want to read it? And besides, I didn't even know what it was!"

"I think that would be obvious once you read the first line," Shane said, folding up the paper and tucking it safely in his pocket. "You know, I should have known you would snoop around in my stuff sooner or later. It was obvious, considering everything _else _you've done."

"'Everything else'?" Mitchie said, standing up. She now looked mad, unlike the last time _they _had gotten in a fight. "Shane, the _only _thing I _ever _did against you was not tell you my secret last year. That is _it_, and I think we should have gotten over that by now."

"Well, you thought wrong," Shane said. "And, besides, you were more than overdue for another offensive thing."

Mitchie rolled her eyes. "Please, Shane. It's not as if I was seriously thinking about stealing the song. In case you were wondering, I read it all because I _enoyed _it. The song was _great."_

Normally, Shane would be content with the compliment, but not today. There were too many frustrated pent-up feelings in his heart, and he was _not _about to just let them go now.

"Oh, really?" Shane said. "Did you really like the song, or are you just saying it to 'fit in'? After all, you haven't done anything to try to get close to me again—I must say I thought you had given up."

Mitchie visibly looked stunned at his comment. "Are you _serious?"_

Shane didn't say anything.

A glare was directed his way. "Apparently you are," she said. "And I am so _sick _of you talking to me this way! I am so sick of you _refusing _to even _hear _my story! If you can't hear my side, then why the hell do you assume you have the right to look down on me and insult me every time I 'offend' you? All I did was read the song that I _loved_! How is that threatening?"

"It's not threatening," Shane said, raising his voice. "And I already _told _you there's no point in hearing your side of the story, because it's not as if it can _change _my mind in the slightest! So why bother?"

"You should _bother _because it could prevent _this _from happening every single time I do something a bit offensive!" Mitchie said fiercely. "If you had just _listened _to me the first time I told you that you should listen to my story none of this would have happened! Believe it or not, I don't want to get close to you just to break your heart, and if you had an ounce of logic and the common sense to use your _eyes_, you'd see that!"

Shane opened his mouth to respond, but Mitchie brushed past him, thundering down the stairs. For a moment, Shane looked at the spot where he had been, unreasonably wanting to go after her, then he made an incredibly frustrated noise, throwing himself onto his bed.

_I. Am. So. Stupid._

Mitchie had seemed so... _fiery_ just a few moments ago, when she had defended herself. In that moment, she had seemed like she actually _was _telling the truth, regardless of his feelings not wanting to agree with that. Over the past week and a half... had she ever tried to get close to him? Had she ever talked to him more than necessary? Had she done _anything?_

_Nope._

"Agh!"

Shane hit his pillow a few times.

It was so _stupid _that it had taken Mitchie finally getting upset enough to yell at him to allow him to realize that she had changed somehow. He still hadn't forgiven her for lying to him, but—

Shane sat up on his bed, glancing around on Mitchie's side of the room. Her side was oddly clean, everything in its place... except one thing. A yellow paper-bound notebook was sticking out beneath her pillow by the corner, the very sight of it stirring a strange curiosity in Shane.

_What __**is **__that?_

Shane was tempted to walk over and investigate, but kept himself contained. Although... Mitchie had looked at his song, which was embarrassingly just out in the open, so...

"Why shouldn't I look at that?" Shane asked the air.

There was obviously no response.

Shane stood up, walking over to Mitchie's bed. Plucking the yellow home-bound notebook out from under the pillow, he saw "Mitchie" written in curling blue letters on the cover. Intrigued, he flicked through it, opening it to the last used page.

He sat down on Mitchie's bed, interested. He ran his eyes over the words, reading the following:

_I don't know why I'm doing this. I never normally write in this like a journal, but I can't help it. I'm just so frustrated, and it's not something I can really write down in a song, so..._

_Here I am, opening up my hardly-used journal for the first time in a year._

_And, amazingly, it's because of boy issues._

_I can't __believe__ Shane Gray. He goes around ignoring me practically all day, then talks to me at night as if nothing happened. I mean, __what__ is his deal? Either he hates me or he doesn't, but I HATE this constant "peace." We're obviously going to snap soon_—_I'm close to snapping already. I cannot understand why he can't just listen to my side of things. It's not as if I'm trying to get him to agree or anything, I just want him to hear it, so that we aren't constantly in this state of... well, limbo, I guess, but no, he won't._

_It is so annoying._

_And so __routine__!  
_

_If this goes on for much longer, I am going to snap, and it won't be pretty. Shane is being completely obnoxious. Sometimes I just want to punch his face in, and other times I just want to sit him down and force him to listen. I hate it when we do the same thing every single day. We've done it for nearly two weeks now. All I want is for us to work all this out, but_—_crap. He's coming._

_Gotta go._

And there the journal entry ended.

Thinking back on it, Shane remembered Mitchie writing this—it had been last night or the night before, when he had climbed the stairs to see Mitchie stuffing something under her pillow, but he never thought anything of it.

Until now, obviously.

_She's right. This is getting a bit ridiculous._

_And I think... well, it can't hurt to hear her side of things. Better that than have us constantly fighting, right? Or in that stupid "peace" thing I tried to do. I should have known that wouldn't work._

Shane took a deep breath—it sounded like he had already decided. Like he said, it definitely wouldn't hurt to hear her side of things, even if he might not agree with them. At least it would put things in the open.

He nodded to himself and stood up, tucking Mitchie's journal back under her pillow, making sure to put it back in the exact same position he had found it, so that Mitchie wouldn't know he read it and get mad at him.

_Even though it would be fair if she did._

With that thought running through his head, and an oddly nervous feeling in his stomach, he walked down the stairs, where Caitlyn had suddenly appeared, lying on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. She looked up as Shane emerged on the first floor, an angry look on her face.

"Where's Mitchie?" Shane said before Caitlyn could say anything.

"Why do you care?" Caitlyn asked.

"I need to talk to her," Shane said. "I think there's something I need to fix."

Caitlyn looked surprised at this. "That's shocking," she said. "Mitchie went out a few minutes ago, as you probably know. She's most likely down by the lake, where you've been seen lately."

Shane nodded.

"Thanks."

Ignoring Caitlyn's increasingly shocked look, he walked out of the cabin, heading down to the lake for the second time that day. Everyone was, by now, heading back to their cabins, but Shane ignored them, walking straight toward the two benches Mitchie was sure to be occupying. As he got close, however, he heard a soft voice, a voice that sounded familiar, a voice that he still couldn't quite place, wafting through the trees.

He could never understand why, but he somehow knew that the singer didn't want to be disturbed.

So Shane ducked behind a tree, listening to the oddly familiar but yet so different voice that kept him out of sight, utterly captivated.

-

**Author's Note**: Oh, I am _so _evil.

I love this chapter, though. I don't know why, but... I just want to snuggle it. The ending is something that could use a bit more work, but I... gah, I love Shane, so, so much. And I love how he acts (hopefully it's in character)! So, hopefully you enjoyed, and please review!

(Oh, and just for those interested, before I leave you to review, I'm going to be putting up a new one-shot up, so if you want to read it, keep an eye on my profile page or put me on your author alert list, please? Thanks!)


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note**: You. Guys. Are. _Amazing_. No joke. I cannot buh-_lieve _the response I got for the last chapter—_**105**_ reviews? That is the most reviews I've _ever _got for a fanfic _ever_, so the biggest thank you in the world goes to **apathetic. sinister.**, **NorthernLights25**, **estrrrsunny**, **JaBoyYa**, **wormhannah**, **bibi **(anon.), **RokerChic5**, **xCampRockHSMluva4evax**, **ScribblingKunoichi**, **xophantomoftheoperaloverxo**, **Lela **(anon.), **You Are My Brand of Heroin**, **foolwiz** (anon.), **Vanecia**, **Reaper Scythe**, **dancerPat**, **IAMSOAP**, **SecretSoltice**, **seekingxsolace**, **Baybee.Kayked.Fever**, **have-a-cookie**, **Cripps13**, **Mina **(anon.), **jonasxsister**, **xoAlmostFamous**, **blonde-gal**, **QueenSusanLovesKingCaspian18**, **Konnichiwa Minna**, **Noorah**, **IaMoBsEsSeDwItHnArNiA**, **PutYourSmileOn**, **Jonaswifey11**, **RushOfYou**, **Blair **(anon.), **Bookworm622**, **Anglefacedcutie**, **Toshiba19**, **XxhAPPYjONASfANxX**, **GreysAnatomy-TamoraPierce-Fan**, **Aria** (anon.), **musiclvr21**, **Shizuki Tsukishima749**, **prettygal6**, **Florchuchizz**, **ErikaEverest**, **Butterflygrl08**, **epobbp**, **hollywoodgal205**, **Bella6393**, **charmedNluckyP3**, **not so random**, **musicbrat-0901**, **Vrai Amour**, **elevategirl**, **lazydigitalbooklet.**, **XO Miz Blond OX**, **MissDestinyHope**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **jensfer**, **711slurpeerocks**, **Kurukus**, **x miss magic x**, **zanessanileyLOVE**, **PlzBeMineAt705**, **yourdarkdesire**, **puppypower317**, **Runaway Rockstar**, **JustASmile**, **Live Like Music.**, **CowGirlsKickAss** (anon.), **nrisley19892007**, **Laylora**, **jesscaa**, **creative-writing-girl13**, **readergirl85**, **SHAWTii328**, **brucas224**, **milkteaxoxo**, **katie **(anon.), **lovely valbrun **(anon.), **fangirl12**, **House.Cam-xx**, **Troyella4everinluv**, **BlackBeauty613**, **supergurl03**, **Maiqu**, **MitsukixTakuto 4 ever**, **Paupu**, **zannessa-all-the-way**, **afta4ever**, **PaoHalliwell**, **ShikallllTema**, **shayoom**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **Nicole Kathrine**, **Princess.KaylZ-808**, **Melancholy Smilez**,** Dancer4life15**, **butterflygoodbye**, **monko25**, **LosingTrack**, **pyrolyn-776**, **notsoperfectbutdealwithit**, **xxZacBabyVxx** and **Remedyzero**. Without all of your support, this story would definitely not be as good as it is, so I appreciate each and every review I get, even if it's an "update soon" (even though I like more than that, of course)!

Before I leave you to read this chapter, there's something I need to clear up—the song in Chapter Seven is not mine. Someone asked me who wrote it, and it's Demi Lovato's song _Stronger_, as I said in the author's note, and the song in this chapter is _Open _by Demi Lovato as well. Just to clarify that issue, but anyway.

Hope you love this chapter, considering how much all of you have been waiting for it!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Nine

The lyrics of the song caused a lump to rise in his throat.

_The only noises in my head  
__Are consumed of your voice  
__From all the pain and hatred  
__How long can you kick somebody down  
__Before a foot breaks?_

_Of course. It's Mitchie... and she's singing about our fight._

Shane thought it most likely wasn't the fight they just had—there was no way she could think of lyrics to a song that quickly—but it would fit if she had written it right after their first fight of the summer, when she had gotten so upset with him. That would give her time to have written all the words, and think of a melody, and write the chorus...

_And why can't I get through the night  
__Without another fight  
__I'm tired of the hurting  
__Is it really worth it?  
__Am I all alone again 'cause  
__I am kinda feeling like I'm screaming  
__With my mouth shut when it's really open_

Shane rested his head against the tree trunk he was hiding behind. It was obvious that she had written that song directly after that first fight. Now, Mitchie wasn't crying every time Shane was rude to her. She actually fought back and now he was trying to get her to forgive him, just a few minutes after she had first snapped. _What _was he thinking?

_I'm thinking this can't go on for much longer._

_Wait. No, actually, I'm thinking that this __**won't **__go on for any longer._

Shane shook himself slightly, concentrating on that voice. As Mitchie sang the next verse (_And I knew you would fabricate this situation just for the sake of your need for attention, and I'm sick of always being the one to always break down, always melt down in the end..._) something in her tone nearly jogged his memory, almost as if he should remember something but _didn't_.

_But... all I know is that her voice is captivating._

Shane smiled softly, even though he didn't why. Mitchie's voice was so _familiar_, but why couldn't he figure out _why?_

Mitchie's voice grew a bit softer, and with it, the sense of familiarity grew stronger, and yet... still he couldn't place it. He _knew _that there was something he should remember, but he _couldn't._

Shane beat his head against the tree trunk once, then walked out from behind the tree. If he listened to that music without seeing Mitchie, he was going to lose his nerve, and Shane Gray _never _lost his nerve. He crept closer to Mitchie until she was in sight—she was standing, her back to him, so that she couldn't see him, but she was still singing, her voice echoing through the trees.

_Times have changed in just a few months..._

Mitchie finished the song, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.

"That was amazing," Shane said in a low voice, walking a bit closer.

Mitchie whirled around, staring at Shane. A panicked and yet angry look came into her eyes. "Are you seriously giving me a compliment?"

_Okay... this is going to be harder than I thought it would be..._

"Yeah."

Mitchie's angry look softened slightly, to be replaced a moment later by confusion. "Why?" she asked. She didn't even allow Shane to answer before continuing. "Why are you even here? Did Caitlyn put you up to this?"

"Of course not," Shane said. "I just think it's time for me to apologize."

Mitchie laughed, in a cold, hard way that expressed absolutely no amusement. "Am I hearing things correctly? Does the great Shane Gray actually want to apologize to _me_?"

"I think I've been a jerk long enough," Shane said in a slightly snippy voice—Mitchie was making it much harder than it had to be. "I should have gotten over what you did a long time ago, and I've been a bit of an idiot lately, so..." Shane paused here, trying to get the words out. "I'm sorry."

Mitche didn't answer.

Shane waited as patiently as possible—she probably couldn't fathom the idea of _Shane _apologizing to her, instead of it constantly being the other way around.

_Even though I wish she would just __**respond**__._

And, luckily for him, just as he thought that, Mitchie opened her mouth.

"A bit of an idiot?" she asked.

"Okay, a lot of an idiot," Shane quickly remedied.

Mitchie looked at Shane. "I don't understand why you're doing this, Shane," she said. "You pretty much said you hated me. You said that you never wanted to talk to me again and that you would never forget what I did. You've been rude to me ever since we arrived. So why did you choose _now _to actually change? It's not as if you were even considering this yesterday."

"Things changed," Shane said, getting a bit angry himself.

"Things can't change that quickly, Shane!" Mitchie snapped. "Thirty minutes ago, you were perfectly willing to ignore me, so excuse me if I can't believe things have changed _that _quickly."

"I am _sick _of ignoring you!" Shane said, raising his voice before he could help himself. "Isn't that _obvious_? It's been _hell _for the past week and a half, and you know why? Because we're bottling up our feelings and I'll _explode _if we didn't talk about them!"

Mitchie laughed. "_You're _getting sick of things?" she asked. "Well, I'm sick of our constant silence, our constant "peace," and I'm sick of you yelling at me every time I do something you don't like!"

"I haven't yelled at you in a week and a half!"

"And that's some sort of record with you, isn't it?"

"Mitchie, I'm trying to do the right thing here!" Shane yelled. "I don't want all of this to keep going on for the rest of the month! I want this to be _over _with!"

Mitchie shook her head. "I don't believe you're actually willing to forgive me," she said. "Caitlyn or Lola or Brown or someone else put you up to this, I know they did. There's no way you could possibly say 'I'm sorry' and mean it."

She turned on her heel and made to walk out of the forest. Shane called for her to come back, but she didn't answer. Rolling his eyes at her stubbornness (and wondering if this was what Mitchie felt like whenever he stormed out on her), he caught up to her easily, catching her by the wrist. She whirled around, about to scream, but Shane clapped his free hand over her mouth.

"Don't leave," he said. "You've been waiting for this moment for a while, so why not jump at it?"

Mitchie tried to say something, but was blocked by Shane's hand over her mouth. Reluctantly, he removed it, hoping that Mitchie wouldn't try to scream again. Luckily for him, she didn't.

"This isn't real," she said.

Shane looked at her. "Let me be the judge of that?"

"Fine," Mitchie said in an exhale. "I don't feel like getting in another fight. What do you want with me anyway?"

Shane took a deep breath.

"I want you to tell me what happened last summer. From your point of view."

Mitchie's mouth fell open. "I can't believe this," she said, sounding amused and annoyed at the same time. "I cannot _believe _you actually want to hear my story. What changed?"

"Doesn't matter," Shane said.

Mitchie sighed. It took a bit more cajoling, but Mitchie finally agreed to tell him her side of the story. And so Shane and Mitchie sat down on one of the benches, uncomfortably close. Mitchie took a deep breath, visibly collected herself, and began telling him what she had thought of last summer, from the beginning, when she had arrived, to the end, when Uncle Brown had banned her from participating in Final Jam.

Shane's first reaction to her story was "_I had no idea_," followed by "_Why didn't I ask her to tell her story sooner?" _and "_I shouldn't have treated her the way I did. I didn't understand any of it."_

He had guessed a little of it, but... he hadn't really understood how much that summer had really affected her, how much it had been a turning point in her life. He knew that Mitchie had lied to fit in, but he never understood how much she hated herself for lying—for some reason, he had refused to think about Mitchie regretting the lie, instead thinking of it as her simply lying to manipulate people, not because she had actually gotten... well, intimidated. Mitchie had tried to tell him that all the way at the beginning of camp, and yet...

_I refused to listen._

He was beginning to slowly think he was an idiot. He had taken the word of _Tess Tyler_, the resident diva and the one girl that was obviously jealous of Mitchie's talent, over Mitchie herself. Tess was known for manipulating people she felt were competition—Peggy's breaking out of Tess's clique proved that—but Mitchie seemed content to just have friends who liked her.

_She just lied to fit in. She kept trying to tell me that, but I wouldn't listen because I was so __**stubborn**__. _

_**Why **__was I so stubborn?_

Shane knew the answer to that question before he asked it. Shane was notoriously known for his tendency to ignore anything and everything that contradicted what he thought—he would only admit he was wrong if something like _this _happened, when he forced himself to hear something he didn't like if the consequences of him _not _doing it were too great.

He sighed.

_But I __**never **__expected for Mitchie's story to run something like this..._

"Shane?" Mitchie asked, noticing the sigh. She broke off her story, right in the middle of explaining how she felt after all that drama of last year, glancing at him. "What are you thinking?"

"I just wish I heard all this before," Shane said simply.

Mitchie looked down. "I _told _you that you should give me a chance to go over my story," she said. "I even told you that you didn't have to agree with it or even like it."

"I know," Shane said. Mitchie's story still rang in his ears, statement after statement flooding his mind. He found his perspective on the entire situation with Mitchie's lie changing, even before he knew it. He found himself realizing that, after all of his objections and refusals, Mitchie was not the bad guy in this situation and, if anything, he was the one who was being unreasonable and idiotic.

"It really did affect me, you know," Mitchie said. "It's not like I said all that stuff to try to get on your good side and then hurt you. That's not me."

"I think I know that now," Shane said, wondering how he had ever been _angry_ at Mitchie for lying to him—he now understood it as best as he could, and he wasn't about to yell at her again. "I never... never really thought of anything of this the way I should have. I should have listened to you before this and realized how much it must have hurt you as well as me."

Mitchie laughed softly. "Shane, you're the guy people have called stubborn as a mule numerous times over the past year," she said. "And it's not fine, exactly, but it's working out for good, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Mitchie seemed to have run out of things to say. She was silent for a moment, but then it seemed like she figured out what else she could say.

"And... that song you heard me singing..." Mitchie inhaled and exhaled. "Well, it's called _Open_, and I wrote bits and pieces of it during these past two weeks. It's really about our fights... as you probably already know."

Shane nodded. "It was a great song," he said, a small smile tilting his lips. "And... you know, your voice reminds me of something. I'm not sure why, but it seems like I've heard your voice _somewhere_, but I can't quite place it."

"You _did_ hear me a week and a half ago," Mitchie said in a light voice—almost _too _light.

"I know _that_," Shane said, slightly amused. "But there's something odd about your voice. Odd in a good way, I mean. It's like I've heard it before and I should remember where, but it's too far away for me to reach."

Mitchie looked seriously nervous at that statement.

"Oh, really?" she said, looking into the forest vacantly. "How—how interesting."

Shane glanced at her, amused. Normally, her vacancy would have annoyed him, but now his new-found, more comfortable peace with Mitchie was much too precious for him to get after her now. And besides, his thoughts were traveling as well, back toward the moment just a few moments ago, when he had come across Mitchie reading his song.

Almost before he realized it, he had taken out the paper with the song lyrics written on it. He smiled at the lyrics—he had written them a month or so ago for Connect Three's performance at Beach Jam, but...

_Mitchie's already read it, so it can't hurt to show her how the song is supposed to sound, right?_

Shane smiled, standing up. Mitchie looked up at him, surprised, for a moment, but Shane spoke before she could.

"Come on. I have something to show you."

-

**Author's Note**: So, there we are. Shane and Mitchie are... well, not friends yet, but getting there. And Shane has something to show her... I really can't wait to write the next chapter, because it's where things really come to a "mini-climax." I'm worried about the characterization in this chapter (as always), but I think it's pretty good. Hope you did too (as always, again)!

Oh, and if it's not too much trouble, I recently wrote a response to a particular challenge. The story is called _The Power of Music_, and it would be really awesome if you checked it out (and maybe did the challenge as well). But enough of the plugging.

Please review this chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note**: Wheee... there's nothing better than waking up in the morning to an inbox crammed with reviews, so a thank you goes to those people who reviewed: **blueSKIES247**, **ErikaEverest**, **xoxoband-geek-4-lifexox**, **UndeniablyMe**, **ScribblingKunoichi**, **Amberle25**, **JaBoyYa**, **Maeke**, **foolwiz**, **zanessanileyLOVE**, **shayoom**, **XxhAPPYjONASfANxX**, **jamierocks5195**, **SecretSoltice**, **dancerPat**, **MazzLuvsJB**, **Shizuku Tsukishima749**, **jonasxsister**, **Cripps13**, **Mina **(anon.), **have-a-cookie**, **oddball15**, **pyrolyn-776**, **ShikallllTema**, **Noorah**, **711slurpeerocks**, **PlzBeMineAt705**, **jesscaa**, **kokoro192**, **apathetic. sinister.**, **Bookworm622**, **xBeautiful**, **Nikkieee02**, **midnightwriter1898**, **katie **(anon.), **Florchuchizz**, **charmedNluckyP3**, **epobbp**, **deppslittlegirl**, **xoAlmostFamous**, **x miss magic x**, **CowGirlsKickAss**, **brucas224**, **iDreamt**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **prettygal6**, **BlackBeauty613**, **Peachie-Trishie**, **smallncrazy91**, **blonde-gal**, **xCampRockHSMluva4evax**, **afta4ever**, **Maiqu**, **IAMSOAP**, **xoxogirlie**, **hollywoodgal205**, **A to the L to the EXIS **(anon.), **Vrai Amour**, **Paupu**, **lazydigitalbooklet.**, **Just-Joy-4evea**, **musiclvr21**, **XO Miz Blonde OX**, **NorthernLights25**, **not so random**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **sugarsugar **(anon.), **xxZacBabyVxx**, **valetbizou**, **creative-writing-girl13**, **Camp Rockians**, **monko25**, **Konnichiwa Minna**, **QueenSusanLovesKingCaspian18**, **Nicole Kathrine**, **Shygirldee **(anon.), **Remedyzero**, **wormhannah**, **Sweet Little All-American Girl**, **LosingTrack**, **Butterflygrl08**, **pr0udpnaii x33**, and **anglefacedcutie**! (_hands cookie_)

Also, a note on the song in this chapter: Shane sings _Take a Breath _by the Jonas Brothers, just in case you were wondering. I tried looking up songs to see if another one would fit better, but this is the only one I could think of. Also, Shane singing it is sort of like what happened in the movie, when he sang _Gotta Find You_—it's slower, but only because he's singing it alone with only a guitar, but anyway.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Ten

Mitchie followed Shane out of the forest, her mind full of thoughts.

_I can't believe he didn't find out..._

When Shane had emerged from the forest after she finished singing, she had thought that he had definitely found out that she was the mystery girl, but apparently not. She wasn't sure how, but her secret was still hidden—maybe she _would _be able to keep her secret until Final Jam, considering Shane was being unusually dim if he couldn't put two and two together.

_So that's a good thing, at least._

_At least that's not the most surprising thing of this whole day..._

No, _that _part went to Shane's apology. If there was one thing she thought would never happen, it was Shane apologizing to her and hearing her story. It had been a year since he had even wanted to really talk to her, so why would he suddenly change and _apologize _to her? It just didn't make much sense, but... Mitchie had told him her story, he had forgiven her, and now he was going to show her something.

Even if she didn't know what that _something _was.

"Shane, where are we going?" she asked, following directly on his heels.

"You'll see," Shane said.

Mitchie rolled her eyes—she liked being friendly with Shane, but she didn't like his mischievous nature—but followed Shane. They emerged from the forest in a few minutes, heading straight for their cabin. A few people were still out, but not many. Mitchie thought that was a good thing, considering the outrage and surprise that would sweep through the camp tomorrow if Shane and Mitchie were actually friendly with each other. It was better to have just a few people gawk, Mitchie told herself, instead of everyone in the camp.

Of course, gawking still made her uncomfortable.

"Can't they just _stop _that?" Mitchie asked.

"I don't think so," Shane said, leading Mitchie through the maze of cabins.

Mitchie didn't answer. Luckily, as they got closer to their cabin, they came across practically no people. The only person they actually saw was Brown, who shot one look in their direction, waved cheerily and walked into his cabin, a broad grin on his face.

_What was __**that **__about? _Mitchie wondered, but didn't think on it as she followed Shane into their cabin.

"Mitchie!" Caitlyn exclaimed as soon as she saw her. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Mitchie said.

And she wasn't given a chance to say anything else as Shane walked up the staircase, leaving Mitchie to follow him. She quickly said a "Not right now" at Caitlyn's odd look, hurrying up the stairs after him. They emerged on their floor in a few seconds, Shane immediately going over to his bed to pick up his guitar.

"What are you doing?" Mitchie asked, surprised.

"You'll see," Shane said. "Sit down."

Mitchie moved to sit down on her bed.

"No, that's too far away," Shane said. "You might as well sit here."

He patted the spot on the bed right next to him. Feeling surprised, and wondering what Shane was about to do, she hesitantly sat down on the edge of his bed, looking at him.

"I wrote a song," Shane said. "As you know already."

"It was really great," Mitchie added.

"Well, that's what you said about the lyrics," Shane said, "and I decided that you couldn't really get the full feel of the song unless you hear it. It's for Beach Jam, when Connect Three performs, so it's not exactly the way it's supposed to be, but it's close enough. Do you want to hear it?"

Mitchie blinked.

"Yes, but—"

"Why am I doing this?" Shane offered.

Mitchie nodded. "I don't understand why you would."

"Me either," Shane said. "But I will, if you want me to."

Mitchie voiced her agreement and smiled softly at him. There was silence for a moment as Shane got his guitar and sat back down on the bed, but then he began playing, his voice capturing the words of the song Mitchie had read earlier.

_I walked across a crowded street  
__A sea of eyes cut through me  
__And I saw you in the middle  
__Your upset face  
__You wear it well  
__Camouflage the way you feel  
__When everything's the matter_

Mitchie found herself concentrating on Shane's eyes, the way they filled with passion as he sang. The words meant something to him, Mitchie saw, and he got into them, which meant Mitchie found herself attached to them as well.

_We've all been down that road before  
Searching for that something more  
__Worlds are spinning round  
__There's no time for slowing down  
__So won't you take a breath, just take a breath  
__People change and promises are broken  
__Clouds can move and skies will be wide open  
__So don't forget to take a breath..._

Shane's eyes met hers. Mitchie blushed and looked down, so much like the last time Shane had ever sang for her and her alone.

_We blink our eyes, life's rearranged  
__To our surprise it's still okay  
__It's the way things happen  
__Summer comes and then it goes  
__Hold on tight and brace for cold  
__It's only for a moment_

Mitchie smiled. To her, everything about the song was perfect and, as he sang the chorus once more, she looked up, watching him as he sang. Regardless of the many problems they _still _had to work through, and ignoring anything else that might be going on, Shane let Mitchie see him when he sang, and Mitchie liked that.

_He really does feel all this._

_Life isn't suffocating  
__Air isn't overrated_

Shane sang the chorus a few more times after this, his eyes capturing hers. The song slowly wound to a close, Shane's voice trailing away, his fingers slowing on the guitar.

"Wow," Mitchie whispered as he finished. "That was great."

Shane smiled. "I don't even know where it came from," he said. "A few weeks ago, I was just sitting down, bored out of my mind, and the first verse came to me. And as soon as I wrote it down, the rest appeared."

"I can't wait to hear it at Beach Jam," Mitchie said.

"Yeah," Shane said. "It should be fun."

Shane placed his guitar on the unoccupied side of the bed, looking at Mitchie. There was a split seconds' worth of silence, and then Mitchie spoke up again, her voice surprisingly low.

"Thanks," she said.

Shane looked surprised. "What did I do?"

"You forgave me," Mitchie said.

Surprise was replaced with confusion. "It's not as if you needed forgiving," Shane said. "I was the one being the jerk."

"Agreed," Mitchie said, laughing at the playfully offended look on his face. "But I did lie, and I shouldn't have done that. And it's not as if I was any better than you when we had the last few fights."

"That's a good point," Shane said.

"And thanks for showing me your song," Mitchie said. "I don't blame you for being upset with me looking at your song. I'd be upset if someone looked at my songs"—and that was an understatament if Mitchie ever heard one—"or my journal, so I'm glad you showed me your song."

Shane glanced at her at this.

"About that," he said, his eyes flashing to her bed.

Mitchie followed his gaze to the head of her bed, down a bit, toward her pillows. She scanned her eyes over the bottom of her pillows—and saw it.

The tip of her yellow journal was peeking out from the corner of her bed. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she turned to Shane, who was wearing a thoroughly guilty expression on his face.

"You _didn't_," she said, staring at him.

"It was right there!" Shane defended. "I was just curious!"

Mitchie couldn't believe him.

"You read my _journal?" _she asked incredulously. "And got angry with me for reading a _song_?"

"Reading a song is the same as reading a journal—it's just in a different form," Shane pointed out. "And it was in plain sight. I just saw it and picked it up."

_Well, that's true. At least he didn't read my __**songbook**__, but it's not as if he could ever find that unless I showed it to him._

_And I won't show that to him anytime soon._

"I suppose," Mitchie said. "But that was rude. What did you read anyway?"

"Just the last entry," Shane replied. "When you called me obnoxious."

Mitchie glanced at him. "Just that?"

"Yeah."

"Good. In that case, all you need is a smack."

Mitchie hit Shane on the shoulder as hard as she could.

Shane laughed. "That's all I get?" he asked. "A lousy hit to the shoulder? I thought girls are extremely possessive about their journals and stuff like that. I felt sure you would skin me alive or something."

Mitchie had to think about that one for a while—after all, she couldn't very well tell him that her journal wasn't that important and that her songbook was much more important, right?—but she finally said: "Oh. Well, it's not like I use it that often, like you probably know from the entry. I don't say much of my important stuff in there. I just felt like ranting there."

"Good," Shane said. "Then I'll survive."

Mitchie let out a laugh. "For now."

Shane grinned at her. Mitchie was suddenly struck by the comfortable atmosphere she and Shane now shared. When they normally talked, it was just a few words, maybe two sentences, and they were awkward and stilted, but now things flowed a bit easier. Things were no longer as awkward and weird as they had always seemed, and Shane didn't seem two steps away from yelling at her anymore.

"This is so weird," Mitchie couldn't help saying.

"How?"

"I just can't believe we're actually _talking_," Mitchie said. "It's so bizarre."

"Yeah, it is," Shane agreed.

"And that's even weirder," Mitchie pointed out. "You're _agreeing _with me? I never thought that was possible."

"Well, you thought wrong," Shane said.

"Does this mean we're actually friends now?" Mitchie asked, the words sounding odd in her head. Shane and Mitchie, _friends_? Considering the events of the past year or so, she never thought she'd actually see "Shane and Mitchie" and "friends" in the same sentence, unless "are not" was between them, but now...

_I think we actually are._

_What an odd thought._

"I think so," Shane responded.

Mitchie smiled at Shane.

_Maybe the rest of our stay in this cabin won't be as bad as I think it will be._

-

Finally, after what seemed to be ages, there was peace in the cabin, and not just the stilted peace Shane had tried to instill, but _actual _peace, when Shane and Mitchie actually talked to each other and _enjoyed _it, not reluctantly talking to each other. Even Caitlyn and Lola seemed to be warming up to him—apparently all they needed was proof that Mitchie and Shane were actually living together and not biting the other's head off. Of course, Caitlyn was still a bit cold, but she was gradually becoming a bit more comfortable with him, which was a blessing.

_Our peace is even starting to get noticed by Uncle Brown._

A few days after Shane and Mitchie had first called themselves friends, his uncle had kept him after one of Shane's vocal classes (his uncle had forced him to go to classes, even though he couldn't teach them).

"Shane," he had said. "I hear you're being friendlier with Mitchie."

"That's true," Shane responded.

"Good," his uncle said, a smile on his face. "I was wondering when you'd get your head screwed on right again."

Shane had rolled his eyes at that comment when he first heard it, but looking back on it, he realized his uncle was right. Even though it had been slightly painful for him to actually admit he had been wrong, the results were much better than they would have been otherwise. If he hadn't confronted Mitchie about all their issues, he would definitely have stormed off by now, but now that he had, he could concentrate on more important things.

Like finding the mystery girl.

Shane hated to say it, but he was beginning to lose hope. When Nate and Jason had come down four days ago for Beach Jam, they had asked if he had found the mystery girl, and he was forced to say no. For two and a half weeks, his mystery girl had failed to show up—either she just hadn't came to camp this year (like he had been saying happened all year long) or she was incredibly good at keeping herself hidden.

_Or I'm incredibly good at not seeing what's in front of my eyes._

Either way, she wasn't showing her face.

And the really infuriating part was that his uncle seemed to know something, but he _refused _to tell him anything about it. Whenever Shane brought up the mystery girl, his uncle would get this devious look on his face, and no matter how many times Shane tried to get whatever he knew out of him, he was as silent as he could be on the issue, only saying: "She's right in front of you, Shane. Just use your eyes."

Obviously, that didn't help in the _slightest._

_I just want to find her. Is that really too much to ask?_

Apparently it was.

It seemed like everyone else _other _than him knew who she was. Whenever he asked Caitlyn or Lola, they got a sly look in the eyes and walked off, not even answering his questions, and whenever he asked Mitchie, she grew shy, as if she knew who it was and was absolutely refusing to tell. To be honest, he was soon getting sick of it. It wouldn't _hurt _to tell him who his mystery girl was, so why did they keep it from him?

_Maybe they want me to figure it out myself?_

That was the only thing he could think of to explain why nobody would tell him who his mystery girl was. He supposed that was _fair_, but he hated it—he just wanted a name or a description! That's all, and then he would stop bothering them.

But no, that was too much to ask.

He sighed. He felt like he was being a petulant child, but he didn't care. He had a week and a half left to find his mystery girl. That was it, and if he didn't find her, he would drive himself insane for another year.

He shook his head, making his way through the camp grounds after heading to the mess hall for a late supper. His thoughts had been going in this vein for the past few days, ever since he didn't have to worry about Mitchie anymore. Every day, it seemed, he thought of that mystery girl's song a million times, so that the girl's singing of the song was replaced by his, his own voice singing it softly under his breath whenever he thought no one was watching.

Like now.

"_This is real, this is me, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now, gonna let the light shine on me_," Shane sang softly, trailing off abruptly as someone came down the path ahead of him.

It was his uncle.

Wondering how he seemed to come up everywhere and getting frustrated at his lack of talk about the mystery girl, Shane called after him. Uncle Brown stopped and spotted Shane, a smile growing on his face

"Shane," he said. "Have you found the girl yet?"

"No," Shane said, "and I'm getting frustrated. I _know _that you know who she is, and I'm just wondering _why _you won't tell me."

"Because this is something you should figure out on your own," his uncle replied. "Look, Shane. This is something you decided to figure out on your own. I never brought anything up about this mysterious girl with the voice. That was all you, and so it only makes sense that realizing who she is comes down to you. If I told you, it wouldn't mean as much."

Shane sighed. "Uncle Brown, I think I've been searching long enough."

"You're only searching long enough when you've given hope finding her forever," his uncle said. "And you definitely haven't given up on finding her. That's something I do know, and so I'm not going to tell you."

"But—"

"You know me well enough to know I don't tolerate 'but's, Shane," Uncle Brown said. "And now, if you excuse me, I've got to run down to the mess hall. I haven't had anything to eat since lunchtime, and you know how hungry I get."

Uncle Brown raised a hand as Shane opened his mouth to respond. He began walking the way he had been before, leaving Shane to turn around and glare frustratedly at him for a moment. Then he turned back around, heading in the direction his uncle had come from, toward his cabin. There he could maybe get his mind off the mystery girl—maybe talk to Mitchie for a bit.

As he got closer to his cabin, however, he stopped dead in his tracks.

_The _voice was floating down the dirt path, meeting his ears with what the small romantic part of him interpreted as a caress. His memory of the voice couldn't compare to what he was hearing now—over the past year, the sound of the voice had diminished slightly, so that he could hear it dimly, like a radio station when it's gone all static, but now... now that he was hearing it once more, it was ten times better than it had ever been. It calmed him, it soothed him, it carried him off to the mess hall a year ago, when he had first heard the song and his heart beat and his love for music grew louder and louder until it was a roar, until he couldn't keep it contained any longer—

Shane stumbled dazedly toward the sound of the voice, hardly noticing the voice was coming from _his _cabin until he walked up the steps, his eyes glued to the glass panel in the wooden door, taking in the sight of the girl long searched for, long awaited, and now finally seen.

And his heart stopped as the mystery girl was revealed.

Suddenly gaps in his mind were filled in. Things made sense, more sense than they had before—Mitchie's nervousness when he had brought up the familiarity of her voice, the reason his uncle had smiled so widely after he had Mitchie sing, why she had been so shy when he asked her about the mystery girl, why Caitlyn and Lola were so sly whenever he asked _them _who the mystery girl was... they all fit in, they all fit in _perfectly._

Clarity burst into his mind, overwhelming joy following a moment later.

He suddenly understood.

_Mitchie_ was his mystery girl, the girl he was looking for.

-

**Author's Note**: The end of this chapter is why I love writing, it really is. As I wrote that last part... oh, wow. What a rush. It just... _filled _me so much... I love that part. It's my favorite part in the entire story so far... and I hope you liked it too, even though it's slightly evil... I just... you can't understand how much writing the end of that chapter thrilled me unless you've been in my position.

But anyway. Please, please review and tell me what you think?


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note**: _One hundred and nine _reviews for the last chapter?! I'm still blown away by how much you like this story. I never thought it would be this big a hit! So thanks so much for those who take the time to review: **BoredHpfan**, **if.looks.could.thrill**, **bubblz16**, **x miss magic x**, **Lega**, **nrisley19892007**, **JaBoyYa**, **StargazingHighschooler**, **have-a-cookie**, **shayoom**, **MidnyghtVampyrezz**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **Shygirldee**, **Mitchie **(anon.), **XO Miz Blonde OX**, **deppslittlegirl**, **elevategirl**, **animeaddict2323232**, **JustASmile**, **HCSBForever**, **Runaway Rockstar**, **xCampRockHSMluva4evax**, **SecretSoltice**, **-BeeVee-THEEAmazing**, **dancerPat**, **Mina **(anon.), **JoBroHSMfanatic**, **shoppinfreak**, **PaoHalliwell**, **supergurl03**, **iDreamt**, **butterflygoodbye**, **zannesa-all-the-way**, **BBONES**, **IAMSOAP**, **Reaper Scythe**, **BornForThisx**, **Camp Rockians**, **anonymous **(anon.), **Konnichiwa Minna**, **bad2dabones86**, **katie **(anon.), **jesscaa**, **Live Like Music.**, **blonde-gal**, **Jonaswifey11**, **XxPrincessAixX**, **hollywoodgal205**, **iWeird**, **ErikaEverest**, **crazyforpurple**, **pr0udpnaii x33**, **Toshiba19**, **jamierocks5195**, **sernity1806**, **Nikkieee02**, **foolwiz**, **musicbrat-0901**, **House.Cam-xx**, **XxHAPPYjONASfANxX**, **Paupu**, **afta4ever**, **You Are My Brand of Heroin**, **ShikallllTema**, **LosingTrack**, **RokerChic5**, **MazzLuvsJB**, **Gracefulfalling**, **Bookworm622**, **jonasxsister**, **creative-writing-girl13**, **oddball15**, **musiclvr21**, **xoxogirlie**, **pyrolyn-776**, **ilovehim x3**, **JonasGirl712**, **Nicole Kathrine**, **SHAWTii328**, **Florchuchizz**, **Amberle25**, **swimsiwmsiwm**, **xBeautiful**, **puppyluv166**, **Maeke**, **princess-lover**, **Angie-ange**, **NorthernLights25**, **The Nikster**, **Maiqu**, **XXWatchMeWorkXX**, **kokoro192**, **Peachie-Trishie**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **RushOfYou**, **PlzBeMineAt705**, **monko25**, **epobbp**, **jaina-lotr**, **freaky-callback-girl**, **Kurukus**, **brucas224**, **valetbizou**, **Vrai Amour**, **Andy the Christmas Tree**, **xoAlmostFamous**, and **Sweet Little All-American Girl**. You really tend to give really great feedback, so I appreciate that.

In answer to some questions I've had about this story: yes, it is nearing its end, unfortunately. I have, at the most, five chapters left to write, but don't worry: I'll be writing many more Camp Rock fics. And if you have anything you'd like to see me write, don't hesitate to insert it into your review or PM me.

Please enjoy this chapter!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Eleven

He knew.

She didn't know he knew.

Shane took a step forward and reached for the door handle, but paused. Should he tell her he knew? Or should he wait? Mitchie obviously didn't want him to know yet, so maybe he _should_ wait...

_No, I've been waiting long enough. I finally found the girl I'm looking for, and I will __**not **__wait any longer._

He turned the handle of the door, letting himself in. Mitchie abruptly stopped singing, turning toward the door. Her expression changed from happy and content to surprised and anxious within a moment. Caitlyn was right beside her and, as she saw Mitchie's concentration break, she looked up from her laptop, her jaw dropping wide open as she saw him in the doorway.

"You're her," Shane said, surprised at the calmness of his voice. "You're the one I've been looking for."

Mitchie didn't answer, instead opting to just look down, playing with the hem of her green shirt nervously. Beneath the layer of her dark hair, he could see her cheeks steadily turning red.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"She didn't tell you because you've been a jerk," Caitlyn said, her voice a bit cold. "She's been dropping hints everywhere, too. We were so sure you'd figure it out before this."

"I didn't," Shane said.

"That's obvious," Caitlyn responded.

Shane shook his head. "And I'm not a jerk anymore."

"Or so you say."

Shane glanced at Caitlyn, contemplated responding, but then turned back to Mitchie, who was still playing with the hem of her shirt. Looking at her now, his memories flitting back to the few times he had actually heard her sing, he was surprised he hadn't figured it out sooner. He had had everything he needed, but somehow, he had not been able to put the pieces together in a way that made sense. But then again, maybe it wasn't that surprising—up until a week ago, he had been refusing to even think of Mitchie being the mystery girl and, once he had made up with her, he didn't think much of it, so...

_I was still incredibly good at ignoring what was right in front of my eyes._

He should have expected it, though. Now that he knew, he felt like hitting himself upside the head. It was _that _obvious, and yet he just hadn't seen it. Surprisingly, finding out Mitchie was the girl with the voice wasn't as earth-shattering as he thought it was. Sure, he was surprised, but not too terribly. It had been so _obvious_ and yet he just couldn't see it.

_I am so going to be beating myself up for ages over this._

"Shane, why are you staring at her?" Caitlyn said, breaking through his thoughts.

Shane blinked, suddenly realizing that he _was _staring at Mitchie. She was looking nervous, but at least she wasn't playing with her shirt anymore. She met his gaze, apprehension evident in the stiffness of her face, and Shane kept it almost before he realized it. The tension between them was obvious, the atmosphere in the room full of nervous energy.

"I don't know," he said. "This is the last thing I expected to happen."

Mitchie looked down, breaking their stare. "I know," she said. "I bet you never thought I'd be the girl you were looking for, right? After all, I did lie and seemed so unhappy with who I was."

"We've gotten over that," Shane said, even though he was still a bit angry at what had happened last year. "I still haven't forgotten, but it's behind us. What the issue is now is that you're the mystery girl, the one I've been looking for all this time, and I never expected it. I don't know why, but you always seemed the least likely person to actually _be _her."

"Well, maybe that's because you were looking, but not actually seeing," Mitchie offered.

"And I thought for sure that you would tell me if you were her," Shane said. "You know how much I've wanted to find her. So why didn't you tell me?"

"For a while, it was because you were being a jerk, and I didn't want to reveal myself until you stopped being one," Mitchie said. "And then I just didn't get the opportunity to tell you."

Shane nodded. "You should have told me."

"I didn't," Mitchie responded, "and now you know anyway."

"I wish I knew sooner," Shane said.

"It wouldn't have changed anything," Mitchie said. "If you had known sooner, would you really have forgiven me that quickly? You would have said that I was being fake or something like that. You didn't want me to be the girl, so you would do anything to make it so that I wasn't. Even if you knew I was."

Shane had to admit she had a point—he had envisioned the mysterious girl as someone he had never laid his eyes on. He had envisioned her unveiling as something sudden and dramatic, like standing up and announcing to the world that she was Shane Gray's mystery girl. He had seen him standing up, surprise evident on his face, as the girl began singing the song. In all his wildest dreams, he had never thought that he would sneak up on the girl, hearing her a week and a half before camp ended, only to find that she was the girl that he had both hated and liked as a friend in the space of two and a half weeks.

His memories suddenly went flying back to the first full day at camp, when all the drama had occurred. He remembered, dimly, his thoughts early in the morning, when he had told himself that he was _falling in love _with the mystery girl.

He shook himself at this, ignoring the strange looks Caitlyn and Mitchie gave him.

_Oh __**hell **__no. My mind is __**not **__going in that direction._

_Not, not, not._

He had only thought _that _because he was envisioning the perfect girl, not _Mitchie. _He had fallen in love with an image, not the actual _thing_, now that he knew that the girl was _Mitchie._

_Even though I'm relieved it's her and not someone else._

"_Shane_," a voice said, breaking him out of his thoughts again. "Shane, what are you _doing?"_

"Nothing," Shane said. "Just thinking."

"About what?" Caitlyn said.

"What do you think?" Shane asked.

Caitlyn looked at him strangely. "No need to get touchy, airheaded pop star," she said, only a hint of a teasing tone in her words. "I was just asking a question."

"Fine," Shane said, not knowing exactly why he was being so angry. "I can't believe any of this. Mitchie, I'm glad I finally found you, but I don't know where to go from here. I think I should have time to think about this."

Mitchie looked at him but nodded. In response, Shane walked across the small first floor, walking up the stairs to the second floor, feeling strange. Part of him was overwhelmingly happy that he had found the girl he was looking for, but he was also nervous, anxious and confused—three words that very _rarely _described Shane Gray. In fact, he was feeling incredibly un-Shane-Gray-like ever since he become friends with Mitchie.

He shook his head, walking over to his bed and sitting down on it. He liked Mitchie, sure, but having her be the girl with the voice completely changed everything. Was he supposed to just let things go in the direction they were already going in? He had found the girl with the voice, he was friends with her, so was that the end? Were they supposed to be just friends?

_Of course we are._

_My thoughts aren't supposed to go in the __**other **__direction, and not only because I don't want them to either._

He was only thinking about something _else _happening because of his earlier thoughts of "falling in love" with that mysterious girl. It wasn't because he really wanted to be with her—it was the _idea _of the mystery girl being everything he had ever searched for, and nothing more than that. He was being ridiculous even entertaining the ideas he was.

_What is __**wrong **__with me? I shouldn't even be thinking this way. Sure, Mitchie's the girl. But that doesn't mean I automatically have to want to... to_—even in his mind, he couldn't say what he was thinking—_actually ask her that. _

_This isn't me._

_I am __**not **__a sap._

Unfortunately, his actions having to do with the now not-so-mysterious girl directly contradicted that. The mystery girl was turning the media's interpretation of a cold-hearted, egotistical, typical pretty-boy pop star (he preferred rock star, but they refused to call him that) upside down. He just knew it was just a matter of time before people called him a mushy, humble, pretty boy pop star that is helplessly in love with the person he had been obsessed with for a year, regardless of the accuracy of any of those things.

_And I don't want that to happen, even though the process has already started._

Whether he liked it or not, Shane Gray was changing. He had let his search for the mystery girl to affect him. Now he wasn't as egotistical and self-centered as he had always been perceived...

_I'm the opposite._

Shane shook his head, reaching for the guitar at the foot of his bed. Suddenly, he had the strangest urge to sing something, sing anything. He reached into his bedside table's drawer where he kept all the scraps of songs he had written, digging out the first song he saw. He began playing, his lips forming the words his fingers on the guitar told him to before he knew it.

_Everytime I think I'm closer to the heart  
__Of what it means to know just who I am  
__I think I've finally found a better place to start  
__But no one ever seems to understand_

Shane smiled as he realized what he was singing—out of all the songs he had ever written, he enjoyed this one the most, even though it didn't help his attempts to stop being utterly obsessed with his realization that Mitchie was the girl in the slightest.

_I need to try to get to where you are  
__Could it be, you're not that far?_

He knew Mitchie was the girl with the voice. He knew that when she sang that song, it came from her heart, regardless of what he would have thought a month or so ago. She was closer than he ever imagined she would be.

_You're the voice I hear inside my head  
__The reason that I'm singing  
__I need to find you  
__I gotta find you_

_I've found her._

_Now I just want to know what I should __**say **__to her now that I did._

_You're the missing piece I need  
__The song inside of me  
__I need to find you  
__I gotta find you_

Mitchie's song ran through his mind as he played and he stopped singing abruptly as his fingers began playing the chorus again. He didn't sing along, instead playing the music to the chorus. It sounded... _familiar_, like it fit in with something.

On a whim, he began singing the lyrics to _This Is Me_ under his breath, and suddenly it made sense.

_Of __**course**__._

He had written this song in a response to hearing _This Is Me_, so it only made sense that the music was similar. In fact, if he had enough time, he could probably use bits and pieces of _Gotta Find You _to add to _This Is Me_—

Shane let out a soft gasp at this thought, ideas flooding his mind.

_Mitchie planned on revealing herself to me at Final Jam. So that meant she's going to be singing "This Is Me."_

_And wouldn't that be the perfect opportunity to reveal one of Connect Three's new songs?_

He couldn't help the thrill passing through him as he reached into his drawer again for a spare piece of paper and a pen. He began writing down his ideas, all of which seemed to flow one after the other in quick succession as the two songs, _This Is Me _and _Gotta Find You_, played again and again in his mind. He felt excited—why hadn't he connected the two songs before?

He smiled as the paper filled up in the space of only ten or fifteen minutes, only looking up to get another piece of paper. As he did so, however, he stopped as he glanced toward the door.

Mitchie was standing there, an odd expression on her face.

"I was just thinking about you, Mitchie," Shane said excitedly, oddly surprised at how he had so easily accepted Mitchie's being the mystery girl. He still hadn't wrapped his mind around it, but...

_At least I'm not trying to deny it._

"Oh?" Mitchie said, looking a bit nervous. "Why?"

Shane smiled.

"Because I have an idea."

-

**Author's Note**: Gah, I'm not so sure about this chapter. At all. I'm worried about Shane's characterization a lot in this chapter, and the ending I used, but I really don't have time to edit it. I would wait until tomorrow to rewrite the entire thing, but I can't. You see, tomorrow's my birthday—I am going to be _FOURTEEN. _I can't believe it, really. I'm going to be going into high school. Except I shouldn't ramble on and on about my birthday, so I'll just say I doubt I'll have time to update tomorrow and I just wanted to make sure you had a chapter to read, even though it may not be as good as the last one.

Hope you enjoyed this one even though it's not my best, and please review!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note**: Wow, I'm absolutely surprised at the response I got for the last chapter, considering I thought for sure that it was terrible. So, a huge thank you goes to my reviewers—**gleamingeyes**, **JoBro-JelsiLuver**, **HCSBForever**, **RushOfYou**, **LaLaLand.xoxo.**, **pyrolyn-776**, **Rakuzen**, **JaBoyYa**, **foolwiz**, **Jonaswifey11**, **RokerChic5**, **xoAlmostFamous**, **Florchuchizz**, **StargazingHighschooler**, **XO Miz Blonde OX**, **Blair **(anon.), **zanessanileyLOVE**, **Angie-ange**, **Vrai Amour**, **My Personal Angel **(anon.), **creative-writing-girl13**, **Camp Rockians**, **shayoom**, **jamierocks5195**, **Reaper Scythe**, **choirsinger**, **cHaRiSmA DoLl ArIeLlE**, **The Sushi Monster**, **monko25**, **animeaddict2323232**, **ShikallllTema**, **not so random**, **x miss magic x**, **zannesa-all-the-way**, **SHAWTii328**, **PlzBeMineAt705**, **Gracefulfalling**, **oddball15**, **BoredHpfan**, **xBeautiful**, **nrisley19892007**, **Konnichiwa Minna**, **NorthernLights25**, **Live Like Music.**, **dancerPat**, **katie **(anon.), **Remedyzero**, **Camp Rock's Good Girl**, **have-a-cookie**, **ilovehim x3**, **charmedNluckyP3**, **Yuki's Little Girl**, **PRchic559**, **QueenSusanLovesKingCaspian18**, **Grl4Peace**, **hollywoodgal205**, **blonde-gal**, **-TheBeeVee-THEEAmazing**, **kokoro192**, **Excuse me Mr. Mister**, **jesscaa**, **SaphirePhoenix**, **brucas224**, **Peachie-Trishie**, **Toshiba19**, **sernity1806**, **crazyforpurple**, **CowGirlsKickAss**, **LosingTrack**, **musiclvr21**, **XxhAPPYjONASfANxX**, **Maiqu**, **xxJemixxZanessaxx**, **iDreamt**, **epobbp**, **Sweet Little All-American Girl**, **Nicole Kathrine**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **Runaway Rockstar **and **KellylovesNickJonas**! I keep saying it, but you guys are truly amazing. You make this story as good as it is, believe me. And I'm glad that I only got one death threat for not being able to update yesterday, so that makes you all greater. (_grins cheekily_)

This chapter takes place from Mitchie's POV, and I'm backtracking a bit—there's a few things I have to go over that happened while Shane was singing in the previous chapter. But I just wanted to clear that up, in case there are a few confusing questions as to why I started the chapter where I did.

So, hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Twelve

Mitchie watched Shane head up the stairs, her emotions in a whirlwind. Part of her was overjoyed that he hadn't been angry at her for being the girl with the voice, only angry at her not telling him sooner, but she was also a bit hurt at his opposition to the possibility of her being the girl, and excited that he actually knew and she didn't have to keep it from him anymore—

_I never thought I could feel all these emotions at the same time before._

She shook her head. She still couldn't believe he had found out, even though she should. After all, Caitlyn had insisted on practicing ("_Come __**on**__, Mitchie. We __**have **__to practice. We only have a week and a half left!"_), even though Lola wasn't there to keep watch, so it just made sense that the _only _time they were a bit lax in their conditions Shane would find out. It was just typical.

"Mitchie," Caitlyn said suddenly. "Did you _see _the way he looked at you?"

"What do you mean?" Mitchie asked, glancing at Caitlyn.

"You didn't see?" Caitlyn replied, looking surprised. "Mitchie, he was staring at you as if you were the most wonderful thing in the world! He couldn't _stop _either. He glanced at me for a moment, then bam, it was back to staring at you. It was slightly scary after a while."

Thinking back on the conversation she had just had with Shane, she did have to admit Shane had been staring at her a lot during that time, but not as if he thought she was the most wonderful thing in the world. No, Mitchie had thought of it as a look full of shock, awe, and anger, but not in a _terribly _awestruck way. He was only in awe because he never expected her to be the mystery girl.

_That's all._

_Caitlyn is just over-reacting._

Mitchie told Caitlyn this but, to her surprise, Caitlyn just laughed.

"You are so not good at figuring out when a guy is awestruck at _you_, Mitch," Caitlyn said. "And don't give me those looks."

"What looks?"

"The looks that say 'Don't call me that' and 'Don't make me think Shane can possibly be in awe about me,'" Caitlyn responded. "They don't go together and at least one is a complete waste of time. Although..." Caitlyn pretended to think. "Actually, both of them are a waste of time, because I'm not about to stop calling you Mitch, no matter how much it annoys you, and I know the difference between a guy being awestruck at you and being awestruck at what you've done."

Mitchie rolled her eyes. "Come on, Caitlyn," she said. "He just stared at me. He was surprised, that's all."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course," Mitchie said. "After all, wouldn't _you _be surprised if you found out the girl you've been looking for was the one you'd hated for nearly a year?"

"Well, first of all, it probably wouldn't be a _girl _I was looking for, considering I don't swing that way—" Caitlyn laughed slightly at the annoyed look on Mitchie's face—"and I might be surprised, but I would _not _look at them the way Shane was looking at you. But maybe guys are different than I thought and he's just surprised that _you're _it."

Mitchie knew that she was only saying that to make her feel better, not because Caitlyn actually believed it, but it soothed Mitchie all the same. She smiled at Caitlyn, who stuck out her tongue in response, lying down on Lola's empty bed. She stared up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking of what had just happened, but was cut off as Caitlyn asked a question.

"What are we going to do?"

Mitchie sat up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we can't really put our plan in action now, can we?" Caitlyn pointed out. "Shane knows you're the girl he's looking for now. That means that we can't reveal yourself to him then, because... well, he'll already know. So what are we going to do now? I mean, it won't have the same impact we wanted to have, since _everyone _will know you're the mystery girl by lunch tomorrow."

"I guess," Mitchie said. "But is that a bad thing? I mean, we can still sing."

"Yeah, but it won't have the same effect," Caitlyn said. "And the best part was the shock factor."

"At least we'll still be able to sing," Mitchie said, "unlike last year."

At the mention of last year, Caitlyn's lips tightened—she still hadn't forgiven Tess Tyler for banning them from Final Jam last year, even though she hadn't caused _any _amount of trouble this year.

"That's a plus," Caitlyn muttered.

"And it's more my vocal than the actual shock," Mitchie said. "Or that's what I thought we were going for."

"True," Caitlyn responded. "But anyway. We can go over this later. For now, I think you should try to talk to Shane. I think we've given him enough time to think, and you guys need to talk. _Alone."_

Mitchie opened her mouth to protest.

"No," Caitlyn said. "Go."

Mitche sighed. "Can't it wait?"

Caitlyn simply shook her head and looked down at her laptop. Mitchie sighed but got up from Lola's bed, heading up the stairs to the second floor. There was silence from the room she shared with Shane and as she appeared at the doorway, she saw why: Shane was hunched over a piece of paper, scribbling something down quickly.

_**What **__is he doing?_

Mitchie wanted to say something, but kept herself contained, instead choosing to simply watch him as he wrote, an odd expression forming on her face before she could stop it. She had _never _seen Shane this into what he was doing—she had seen him passionate, of course, since he was always passionate when he sang, but concentrating this hard?

She found it hard to believe Shane was even capable of it.

_Although I should have guessed. How else could he think of all those songs?_

_He __**has **__to concentrate sometimes._

Of course, that didn't wipe the odd expression off her face as a few minutes passed and Shane was still concentrating on the piece of paper. With a growing amount of interest, she watched Shane continue to write in a sort of trance, only shaking herself out of it as Shane looked up to get another piece of paper—and saw her. His expression changed visibly, from a closed look of intense concentration to an incredibly excited one in a second.

"I was just thinking about you, Mitchie!" he said excitedly.

Mitchie felt a bit nervous. "Oh? Why?"

A smile stretched across Shane's face, lighting it up.

"Because I have an idea," he said.

"What sort of idea?" Mitchie asked, walking into the room and sitting down on her bed.

"You know the song I wrote for my mystery girl, right?" Shane asked. As soon as Mitchie nodded, Shane continued. "Well, I was playing around with it a few minutes ago, and I suddenly realized that it fits in with _your _song amazingly. I never noticed it before, but when I switched out my lyrics for yours, it went together perfectly. I'm surprised I didn't think of it before."

Mitchie thought back to that time out by the lake, when Shane had sang the song. Now that he mentioned it, his song's melody _had _seemed similar to something she had heard before, but she hadn't been able to put her finger on it. Of course, now that Shane brought it up, it all made sense: of course Shane's song would have similarities to hers.

_After all, he wrote it as a response to mine so it makes sense that they might go together._

_And it's __**so **__weird to call that song mine. Even though, you know, it is._

"Show me?" Mitchie asked.

_I want to hear this for myself._

"Of course," Shane said, a small smile on his face. He reached for the guitar beside him, getting ready to play. "This won't be as good as it can, because it's just a guitar, but you'll get the basic idea."

Mitchie nodded, and Shane began to play the music to his song. He didn't start singing until the chorus, which he first sang with _Gotta Find You. _Even though she would never admit it, his voice singing those words—and more than that, singing those words to _her_—never failed to give her goosebumps. As he sang those words, she smiled, but the chorus was all too soon over, and he trailed off.

"And here's the lyrics to _This Is Me _sung to _Gotta Find You_'s music," Shane said.

He began playing the music for the chorus once more, this time substiting the words to his song for the words to Mitchie's. To her surprise, they fit in incredibly well. All they would have to do to meld the two together would be settling on a midway point, where one song's "meat," you could say, ended and the other song's "meat" started, which would be easy if you have someone used to doing that...

_Someone like Caitlyn._

As soon as Shane finished singing, Mitchie smiled a bit wider.

"I think I know your idea," she said.

"And?"

At that one word, Mitchie's smile grew so big she felt her face would split in two.

"Let's do it."

-

Brown headed into the mess hall the next morning, his eyes traveling over the groups of people sitting at the tables, alternatively eating, talking or, in some cases, both. It seemed everyone who was talking was talking in hushed tones, pointing over their bacon or under a person's arm at the group of people sitting in the back of the mess hall, talking and laughing together.

His eyes traveled over to the group, a smile tilting his lips as he saw who it was.

Shane was sitting with Mitchie, Caitlyn, Lola, and some other males that Brown couldn't quite remember the names of, looking quite animated for eight-thirty on a Thursday morning. Ever since a week ago, it seemed Shane and Mitchie had miraculously made up—they never shot glares across the room at each other when they had the same class together and the atmosphere whenever you saw them together was somehow calmer, as if they had just gotten over all the issues and were now the best of friends, as if it was just a childish fight they soon realized was a waste of time.

_Which it was, but Shane and Mitchie are not going to admit that._

_Even if they __**did **__make up._

Also, it seemed like most of the "Missing" signs for the girl with the voice had miraculously disappeared. There had been at least fifty of them just on his way to the mess hall last night, but now it seemed like most of them had disappeared, which meant only one thing.

_Something happened last night after I stopped talking to him, and I bet I know exactly what that something is._

Brown quickly weaved his way through the maze of tables—he couldn't pass by a chance to tease his dear old nephew once an opportunity presented itself, could he?

_Of course not._

He easily made it to their table. It put a smile on his face to know that his nephew was _finally _happy and not the moody boy that had come to camp this summer. It seemed like Mitchie had made a good impact on Shane, which was an invaluable skill to have.

"Hey, gang," Brown said, heading over to them.

"Brown!" a few people at the table chorused as one, causing Mitchie, Shane and Caitlyn, who were facing away from him, to turn, a smile on each of their faces... even Shane's.

"How are you?" Brown asked, smiling. "Having fun?"

"Much," Lola said.

"Yeah, Mitchie and Shane are finally getting along," Caitlyn said, looking utterly relieved at that. "And Shane's finally found his mystery girl."

"Did you really?" Brown said, feigning surprise. "It's about time!"

Shane rolled his eyes. "I would have figured it out sooner if you had given me another hint," Shane pointed out sulkily, but Brown could tell he wasn't entirely serious.

"If we gave another hint, we'd have given it away," Mitchie pointed out amusedly.

"I have to agree," Brown responded. "We did everything sort of pasting 'This is the girl with the voice Shane Gray has been looking for' on Mitchie's forehead."

Shane looked slightly offended at this and was about to say something, but was cut off as Mitchie turned to Brown, brown eyes filling with surprise.

"You _knew _I was the girl?" she asked. "How?"

Brown grinned. "Let's just say I have a sixth sense," he responded and turned without a word, heading to the table laden with food nearest to the group of teens, feeling amused.

_I love it when this happens._

He picked up a plate and walked around to the side farthest away from Shane's group, keeping one eye on them as he filled his plate. He was glad to see Shane finally happy with the cabinmates he had been assigned to and, more than that, he was exceedingly glad that he had finally found his mystery girl, even though he should have figured it out a long time ago.

All the drama of the year seemed to be over, thankfully.

_Or most of the drama._

_There's still a week and a half left, so who knows how much drama can occur in that amount of time?_

Brown grinned, scooping a few large spoonfuls of eggs onto his plate, next to his bacon. Mitchie was still looking surprised, Brown noted, but he couldn't blame her for that, considering she probably thought no one but her, Caitlyn and Lola knew. However, he wasn't really concentrating on Mitchie—no, his eye was on Shane, who seemed to be glancing at Mitchie every few minutes, as though he thought she would jump up and run out or do something equally unexpected.

_Or maybe he's looking at her like she __**is **__unexpected._

Now _that _was an interesting thought.

As Brown finished piling his plate full of food and picked up a fork, he glanced once more in their direction, noticing Shane's eyes shift in Mitchie's direction for a moment, a strange look in his eyes, before it was gone, and he began concentrating on the conversation once more, saying something that made the whole table roar in amusement. Brown, however, recognized that look.

_Shane looks like he might be delving into the stickiest feelings a guy can have for a girl._

_How interesting..._

-

**Author's Note**: What is _with _me and not being able to get endings right? For some reason, I'm not happy with this ending, but I've got to learn to just not fret about them, and hope you like them all the same. But at least I liked writing this chapter better than the last one (even though I'm once again slightly disappointed with the quality, since I'm self-conscious like that), so I hope you do too—I _think _I can stretch this story for another three chapters, but it's not a given yet.

Also, before I leave you with my customary "Please review!" at the end of my second author's note, I just have to say a huge thank you to those people who wished me a happy birthday and encouraged me on to high school—it's really awesome that all of you are kind enough to do that for me. You guys are always utterly _awesome_. And I have incredible almost-good news that I got ahold of on my birthday: one of the people at my youth group went to see the Jonas Brothers in concert during their last tour (twice!), so they might go for the Burning Up tour, so if they do, my brother-in-law is going to try and ask them to take me along. I'm really crossing my fingers and praying, so wish me luck! If I went to a concert, I'd be so happy I would die. So, yeah. Just wanted to share that with you guys if you're even halfway interested, but I'll stop blathering now (this is my longest author's note to date, I believe).

Please review!


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note**: Once more, a thanks goes to those who reviewed: **ilovehim x3**, **Lina Mistress of Elements**, **Sober Hollywood**, **shayoom**, **Shizuku Tsukishima749**, **IAMSOAP**, **brucas224**, **LolaBellaxx**, **SVZ**, **SHAWTii328**, **RedRoseInADarkValley**, **AviorHyrax**, **gleamingeyes, have-a-cookie**, **oddball15**, **penguinsrpals**, **BrazilianPrincess**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **NicholeLuvsJB12**, **Grl4Peace** (anon.), **monko25**, **JemiandLolgan4ever.**, **XO Miz Blonde OX**, **zanessanileyLOVE**, **cHaRisMa DoLl ArIeLlE**, **semicollon00**, **NorthernLights25**, **LosingTrack**, **Blair **(anon.), **PlzBeMineAt705**, **Dancer4life15**, **RokerChic5**, **Konnichiwa Minna**, **Cripps13**, **Keybladewarrior13**, **.x.imagine.x.**, **blonde-gal**, **JennAy9110**, **x miss magic x**, **Paupu**, **Yuki's Little Girl**, **katie **(anon.), **-BeeVee-THEEAmazing**, **Amberle25**, **MitsukixTakuto 4 ever**, **Florchuchizz**, **Maiqu**, **unbelievably.yours**, **Remedyzero**, **XxNickxXxSkanderxX**, **anonymous **(anon.), **MazzLuvsJB**, **musiclvr21**, **crazyforpurple**, **pyrolyn-776**, **babybooshe112**, **JoBrosCupcakesSwirl**, **PrChic559**, **zannesa-all-the-way**, **Jonaswifey11**, **charmedNluckyP3**, **DiSnEyGiRl96**, **epobbp**, **Reaper Scythe**, **hollywoodgal205**, **Angie-ange**, and **Live Like Music.**!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Thirteen

The next few days passed by in a blur. No matter where Mitchie looked, it seemed she was needed for _something_, whether it be a last minute practice before they headed down to the mess hall for breakfast, a quick word with Shane in a deserted section of the forest as he looked for opinions of his newest song, a late-night talk with Caitlyn and Lola about the "looks Shane was giving you" and "the way you bumped shoulders with him at the mess hall and looked like you were about to faint" or a canoe ride with Shane when their schedule freed up a tiny bit.

Of course, being needed for all those different things was not a bad thing—in fact, she loved constantly being busy. Besides, she _needed _to constantly be busy, considering how much they had to put together in a _week._

_I can't believe what Shane and I are attempting._

_Who would have thought we could actually be friends, let alone be willing to __**sing **__together at Final Jam? And who would have ever guessed that we would be insane enough to try and put together a whole new routine for Final Jam in a __**week**_?

_Certainly not me and yet that's what we're doing._

Mitchie smiled at that thought, heading down to the lake for a canoe ride with Shane. At first, the idea of combining _Gotta Find You _and _This Is Me _into one song in time for Final Jam had seemed impossible, but with Caitlyn's help, they managed to get it done in an evening or two. Now they were practicing every spare moment they got. Their performance was good so far, but...

_I'm still nervous. I just hope I don't mess up in front of all those people. _

She shook that thought out of her head. _No, I won't mess up. Caitlyn and Shane will make sure of that, considering how much we're practicing. And thinking about messing up will only make it more likely that I will._

"Mitchie!" someone called.

Mitche smiled, turning around. Shane was right behind her, wearing a broad smile on his face. As soon as she stopped, he easily caught up to her.

"Hey," Mitchie greeted.

"Hey," Shane greeted as well. "Ready?"

"To go in circles?" Mitchie asked.

Shane let out a quick, amused laugh. "Have we still not forgotten about that?"

"Of course not," Mitchie said. "After all, how could we? Every single time we try to canoe, we always end up going in circles. Both of us know that."

"Point," Shane said, giving in.

Mitchie smiled again as they began heading down to the lake, talking about nothing in particular. For some reason, they were so much more comfortable with each other than they ever had been, even taking into account last year, when they had first been friends. Now, Mitchie didn't jump nearly a foot when Shane accidentally brushed against her arm like she did before, and they were fast becoming close friends—maybe even closer than she had been with Caitlyn or even Sierra.

And _that _was an odd thought.

_But not one I want to get rid of..._

Mitchie shook her head at the way her thoughts were going in, smothering them as she walked along the edge of the lake with Shane, searching for the green canoe they always climbed into, no matter how many other canoes were there. It was _their _canoe, they had silently agreed on, and they wouldn't go out on Lake Rock if it wasn't their green canoe.

Thankfully, their canoe was there, turned upside down as always, two paddles beside it. Mitchie and Shane made quick work of turning the canoe rightside up, grabbing and putting on a lifejacket, pushing it off, and climbing into it. They managed to paddle out into the middle of the lake, where they promptly began going in circles, around and around and around...

Mitchie let out a laugh.

"You know, I'm beginning to think we're doing this on purpose," she said.

"Would we do that?" Shane teased, grinning at her.

"It's more amusing if we go in circles," Mitchie pointed out

"Yeah, it is," Shane agreed, "but, personally, I think we're going in circles because we are completely hopeless at getting further than halfway through the lake. So circles it is."

"I don't mind circles."

There was silence for a moment but then Shane spoke up, abruptly looking at her, an unreadable look on his face.

"So, what do you think of our performance at Final Jam?" Shane asked.

Mitchie couldn't help the surprised look crossing her features—why the sudden change of topic?—but she ignored it. "I think it's great so far," Mitchie said. "I just hope I don't mess up. This will be my first time performing on an actual stage, you know."

"Didn't you sing at Pajama Jam, though?"

"Yeah, but that wasn't an actual stage," Mitchie said. "Nobody was really paying attention to me, anyway. They were watching Tess do _something. _And Final Jam will be my first huge performance."

"You'll do great," Shane said.

"Really?"

Shane grinned at her and, in one of his strange fits of insane niceness that were becoming even more common in the past few days, said: "I'll make sure of it."

Mitchie couldn't help a smile stretching across her face, yet she looked down, her cheeks burning. For some reason, whenever Shane gave her a compliment, she felt like her entire face was on fire and she suddenly grew shy—whenever these moments happened, she sometimes felt like Caitlyn and Lola had a point whenever they pointed out the fact that Mitchie was acting like she had a crush.

_But I don't._

_Crushes happen to immature thirteen-year-old girls that can't control themselves. Not a seventeen-year-old girl that is best friends with Shane. I'm just really great friends with him and not used to that yet._

_That's all._

Obviously, though, Caitlyn and Lola never bought that when Mitchie told them. No, they said that "De Nile wasn't just a river in Egypt" and that she "really had to stop denying what everyone sees." Or things in that vein, which was, of course, a complete lie. Sure, their relationship had progressed to something she never expected it to, and she was getting a bit awkward around him whenever he did something sweet, but that happened all the time, didn't it? And yeah, she did tend to feel her heart quicken whenever he came up to her, but that was normal, right?

_And I feel like jelly whenever we sing together, but that's just because it's supposed to be powerful._

_Yeah, that's it._

_We're just friends. Odd friends, but just friends all the same._

Or so she continued to tell herself.

Deep inside, however illogical it may sound to her, she knew things were stronger than she made them out to be. She was definitely friends with Shane and, at the moment, that was all it was, but who knew if that might change? Gradually, she felt like spending more and more time with him, and that _couldn't _be good, especially since seeing him tended to turn her entire insides to jelly.

She took a deep breath. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. She certainly _liked _Shane, but they had really only been friends for about a week and a half... so how could she possibly _like_ him like him? Most feelings don't grow that quickly, but then again, it was incredibly difficult to share a cabin with Shane and not develop a friendship with him... and most people developed more than that.

She shook her head, getting dragged out of her thoughts by a voice.

"Mitchie," it said, and as she focused again, she realized it was Shane, looking at her, concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Mitchie said, managing a small smile. "I'm just fine."

Shane clearly didn't buy it, but he nodded all the same, picking up his paddle once more. Things seemed to get better as Shane began talking again—small talk and laughter punctuated their (failed) attempts to get further out on Lake Rock. Nothing else happened in the hour or so they managed to spend on the water, and it was a good thing, considering the fact Mitchie's feelings were rapidly spiraling out of control.

_I like him. _

_But how far that like goes is still to be determined._

-

There were six days left before Final Jam.

Shane found himself spending every spare moment he had hanging out with Mitchie and her friends, either practicing, canoeing, or just having a good time—something he thought would never happen, even though now, when he had been friends with them for a week or so now. Even though practicing for performances normally bugged the hell out of him (his manager pushed him so hard he felt like screaming sometimes), he found himself enjoying the practices he had with Mitchie, even if they went late into the night.

And he found himself enjoying Mitchie's company more and more.

No matter how many hours they spent together, they never seemed to run out of things to talk about. They were close, closer than he ever expected to get to _anyone_ except his fellow members of Connect Three, Nate and Jason. For some reason, he felt like he could be himself around Mitchie, as if she just demolished all the walls and boundaries that separated a famous rock star and a normal person. He had felt a bit like that last year, but still.

It wasn't as strong.

For the first time, he had someone who didn't think of "Shane Gray, lead singer of Connect Three" first... no, he had someone who thought of "Shane Gray, the person and friend". And Shane loved that about her.

That day, six days before Final Jam, Brown had given him back his class for the last week, his reason being that "you've finally gotten more than fluff stuffed into that brain of yours." He had spent the entire day teaching the dance class—which was a huge success, as everyone seemed to want him back—as a result, finding that he had missed dance instruction quite a bit more than he had expected to.

_Which isn't really much of a surprise_—_I was disappointed when Brown "fired" me._

So, he had taught some of the dance classes he had been itching to do for three weeks _and _somehow still had time topractice for Final Jam. That day was absolutely amazing, and yet it went by much too quickly.

And soon there were five days left until Final Jam.

A new addition arrived to the Camp Rock grounds: a large, rectangular sign that proclaimed FINAL JAM in huge letters, with a smaller FIVE DAYS sign hung below it. Every day, the sign would be replaced with the _actual _number of days left, which gave everyone a new layer of panic and excitement. Everywhere you looked, you saw people staring at the sign nervously, excitedly, or in a way that expressed both feelings in equal measure.

And, unfortunately for Shane, Mitchie seemed permanently stuck in a mood right in between "nervous" and "excited".

Halfway through the day, when Shane finished a last minute class for a few students who wanted to be sure they had their dance routine down correctly, he found Mitchie at the edge of the lake, pacing nervously, her lips mumbling the words to their song under her breath. It was one of those times she had panicked and, although it didn't happen often, when it did, it was bad.

"Mitchie, you'll be great" was the phrase he repeated throughout the day and, thankfully, after the hundredth time (or what seemed to him to be the hundredth time), she calmed down, looking at him in a distinctly odd way.

Shane didn't recognize it but, as the day wore on, and they began practicing again, he soon found the look appearing on her face once more, this time after they had finished their Final Jam practice for the night, and Caitlyn had told them they had pretty much gotten it down perfectly—Mitchie had gotten this tiny little smile on her face and stared at Shane for a moment, an unreadable expression on her face, before she looked down, cheeks turning tomato red under the coverage of her long, dark brown hair.

It was new, but Shane found it... adorable.

And _that _was new.

_I swear, this friendship with Mitchie is turning me into a sap._

The rest of that day passed by in a blur and, before he knew it...

There were four days left.

Shane found himself concentrating on Mitchie that day a bit more than usual. Only a few more lessons were given out, and only to a few people who needed a bit more instruction for Final Jam, so he had the day free. He had spent it with Mitchie and his uncle, but mostly Mitchie. Her strange looks had increased—he caught at least three of them that day, and he remembered asking her about it.

"What's that look for?" he asked.

Mitchie stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"The look you just gave me."

"Oh." Mitchie looked confused, but didn't bother asking what he was talking about. "I don't know. I guess I'm just nervous, that's all. I mean, there's only four days left, and Caitlyn is pushing us further than ever..."

Even though Shane hadn't entirely bought that story, he had nodded. When they weren't practicing, and when he wasn't with his uncle, they were sitting at the edge of the lake—so close to where they first met, now that he thought about it—talking about numerous things when the mood struck them, and just staring out at the lake when it didn't.

Shane was rapidly growing more and more comfortable with Mitchie, to his surprise. Even though they might not say anything, he rarely felt nervous, since he knew they got along well enough even if they _didn't _talk. He didn't have to worry about her being angry at him—he could somehow read her expressions better than he could anyone else's, weird as it sounds.

Soon enough, he found himself noticing more and more about her... and wondered what it meant. He found himself liking her company more and more. Of course, he only thought of _that _as them getting closer to each other. They were good friends, that's all.

And then that day passed, and there were three days left until Final Jam.

That was the day Shane began wondering when he actively sought Mitchie out instead of waiting for her to walk up to him and ask if he wanted to do something. And it was also the day Caitlyn got him alone and began asking him a spiel of questions.

"Why do you hang out with Mitchie so often?"

"What do you _do_?"

"Are you seriously ready to do Final Jam?"

"Why do you constantly stare at Mitchie? And don't lie, because you do."

"Do you like her?"

To those questions, he answered as best as he could—except for the last one, he ignored that one, because he knew that if he said anything Caitlyn would either believe he was lying or being an utter sap, and both of them seemed terrible, so he decided not to say a thing—and saw that Caitlyn had thankfully been fairly impressed with the answers.

Her last question, however, threw him for a loop.

"And is Nate coming to Final Jam?"

Shane had said "yes," but he was confused as to why she would even _ask _the question in the first place—since when had Caitlyn been interested in whether or not the fellow members of Connect Three would be there? He hadn't let it on, but he had automatically gone to see Mitchie, who had been as confused as he was as to why Caitlyn had asked.

However, that was the day he realized he _was _staring at Mitchie for a bit too long, and the day he realized that _Mitchie _was staring at _him _too long as well. It was also the day he wondered if there was more to their relationship than he previously thought, although he didn't bother thinking it through—there was too much chaos going around as it was, and he didn't need to add more.

And then there were two.

That was when Tess Tyler snapped and threw a small fit, complete with taunts at Mitchie, when she saw her heading out of her cabin with Shane. Mitchie had just ignored her, shooting a glare in her direction as she hurried down to the mess hall, but Shane had stopped, asking her what gave her the right to make fun of other campers, and she had blanched, but Shane had forced her to respond.

Tess's response was: "I just snapped. Sorry."

After that, she hurried away. She didn't bother Mitchie or Shane for the rest of the day, but his little defense of Mitchie had caused Mitchie to turn, looking at him with a surprised look on her face.

"Why did you defend me?" she asked.

Shane didn't have a suitable answer to that, but for the rest of the day, he was thinking about it—why _had _he defended her? He was forced to admit, after catching himself staring at Mitchie for too long and singing to her with a bit _too _much passion in his eyes, that he maybe liked her more than he had thought he did. Maybe he was growing to actually _like _someone.

That thought shocked him and yet, when he thought about it again as he practiced one of the final times with Mitchie before Final Jam, he realized that he shouldn't be surprised at all.

_It's only logical, I suppose, but I still am not sure I like it._

That day passed quicker than ever because of that thought and, before he knew it, there was only one day left before Final Jam. It marked the beginning of the full-scale panic, the mad hassle to get all of their things ready for the performance of their life, and the realization of the changes Shane had been experiencing the entire summer and had only just now realized.

It marked something bigger than all that as well.

The day before Final Jam was the first day a certain thought ran through Shane's mind constantly, like a broken record, and yet he didn't try to refute it, like he so often tried to do.

_I __**like **__Mitchie Torres._

-

**Author's Note**: Gah, Shane isn't too terribly out of character, is he? I'm so worried about his character, because we aren't given a good feel of what he's _really _like in the movie, but I tried to keep him in character. So, I hope I succeeded, and I'm worried about Shane's POV being boring, so I really hope it's not and that you enjoyed this chapter, since I didn't update yesterday.

And this chapter might've gone by a tiny bit too fast, but I just couldn't carry the time before Final Jam for another chapter unless I moved things around, and I definitely didn't want to do that, so... the next chapter will be Final Jam, and the chapter after that will be the events after Final Jam. Those two chapters will mark the end of this story, sadly. :(

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, though, and please, please review?


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note**: You know, I don't think the magic of having people actually _love _your story and give you marvelous reviews is ever going to wear off... which is a great thing. I can't understand why all of you love this story so much, but thank you goes to: **fangirl12**, **zannesa-all-the-way**, **Mizz Stud Muffin**, **The Sushi Monster**, **Lina Mistress of Elements**, **have-a-cookie**, **MEbabydevil**, **Amberle25**, **reader **(anon.), **JaBoyYa**, **foolwiz**, **monko25**, **lulu96**, **SecretSoltice**, **Sober Hollywood**, **Banana **(anon.), **dancerPat**, **katie **(anon.), **oOo Endless Rain oOo**, **PutYourSmileOn**, **Shizuku Tsukishima749**, **x miss magic x**, **L.K **(anon.), **Konnichiwa Minna**, **RedRoseInADarkAlley**, **Jonaswifey11**, **Florchuchizz**, **BoredHpfan**, **kokoro192**, **epobbp**, **Blair **(anon.), **Remedyzero**, **JennAy9110**, **x.o.x PceLuvJonas x.o.x**, **iamflyingmonkey**, **cdagtcherry**, **Nicole Kathrine**, **BrazilianPrincess**, **Angie-ange**, **blueSKIES247**, **Maiqu**, **PlzBeMineAt705**, **JustASmile**, **camprock**, **AviorHyrax**, **creative-writing-girl13**, **SweetSerenityPeacexRose**, **BlackBeauty613**, **McSerious**, **JemiAndLolgan4ever.**, **jamierock5195**, **NorthernLights25**, **blonde-gal**, **XO Miz Blonde OX**, **xxJemixxZanessaxx**, **SHAWTii328**, **xoAlmostFamous**, **musiclvr21**, **LosingTrack**, **sernity1806** and **Yuki's Little Girl**!

You have all been waiting for this chapter ever since Chapter Four (I believe), so hope you enjoy!

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Fourteen

Mitchie began to pace.

_One, two, three_, she counted with each stride she took. _One, two, three. One, two, three._

_Turn._

_One, two, three._

_One, two, three._

_One, two_—

"Would you _stop _that?" Shane snapped.

Mitchie stopped mid-stride, turning to look at Shane. He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked completely at ease, which meant he was in stark contrast with Mitchie, who was so nervous she felt like she was going to throw up. Everyone else backstage at the Camp Rock Theater looked quite at ease... except for her.

"I'm _nervous_," Mitchie said. "This is my _first _time performing in front of a crowd like this."

"You'll do great," Shane assured her. "We've practiced nonstop for a week."

"How do you know that?" Mitchie asked, even though she knew she was needlessly worrying. "I just know that something will go wrong. What if I stumble over my words or trip on stage?"

"I'll catch you."

Mitchie looked down, frustrated with the blush that spread across her cheeks at that statement. She seemed to blush much more often now, especially when Shane did something sweet, and it was getting a bit annoying. She had finally stopped denying Caitlyn and Lola's claims of her "crush" on Shane, but she would have definitely preferred it if her face didn't constantly shout "Mitchie likes Shane!" every time he said something.

"Thanks," Mitchie finally said after a few seconds, looking up. "You always know what to say to make me feel better."

"What can I say?" Shane quipped, a small smile on his face. "It just comes naturally."

Mitchie rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help a smile crossing her face. They didn't say anything else, but Mitchie somehow knew that they were both there for each other, and that they wouldn't let the other fall.

_Not that __**Shane **__will fall, of course._

_He's been at this for three years now and I don't think he'll stumble over his words at the small Camp Rock theater, but at least he'll be there for me._

That thought didn't _entirely _relieve her, but it helped get her mind off everything, and gave her an opportunity to scan over the people swarming the backstage area. Tess Tyler held the most space in the room (as usual), and was rehearsing with two of her newest backup singers, Lily and Katherine, turning back to them every thirty seconds or so to criticize _something _they were doing. Ella and Peggy were right next to her, sitting on two chairs in the back of the room, talking silently and encouragingly to each other. And, of course, there were all the other people performing at Final Jam, but Mitchie's eyes didn't travel over them long enough to recall their names because, at that moment, she received a tap on her shoulder.

"Are you almost ready?"

Mitchie turned to see Caitlyn right behind her, holding her laptop under one arm, a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah," Mitchie said. "Even though I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"You will both be amazing," Caitlyn reassured.

"Thanks," Mitchie responded.

"And who knows, maybe you'll get a kiss from you-know-who," Caitlyn whispered under her breath, nudging Mitchie in the ribs with a sly look on her face.

Mitchie glared at Caitlyn. "Don't make me laugh," she whispered back, kicking her in the leg and shooting a nervous look in Shane's direction. "He won't do that. He doesn't like me that way."

"He didn't deny it when I talked to him," Caitlyn murmured. "In fact, he doesn't say anything. That means he probably does but doesn't want to admit it."

"He doesn't," Mitchie replied. "I know that, at least."

"Don't be so sure," Caitlyn retorted.

Mitchie didn't know what to say to that, but thankfully she didn't have to—Brown had chosen that moment to step backstage for a moment for a last-minute pep talk and as soon as he did so, people automatically looked his way, dissolving into silence.

"Are you all psyched?" he asked, looking as if he was about to bounce around the room out of excitement.

A resounding "YES!" shook the room.

"Good!" Brown replied. "It looks like there are so many talented people here, so this looks to be one of the best Final Jam sessions in Camp Rock history!" Everyone let out a loud whooping cry of excitement at that, and Brown waited until it died down to continue. "But just remember: this is all about _fun_! So just go out there and sing your hearts out!"

Another booming "YES!" came from everyone backstage.

Brown continued for a few more seconds, then took a microphone from the stand right next to the stage, running out to roaring applause from the audience ready for them to perform.

"They're so loud," Mitchie murmured, a bit overwhelmed.

Shane grinned at her. "Compared to other places you could perform, they're as silent as a mouse," he responded. "Come on."

With that, Shane took her by the arm and began steering her toward the stage, just out of sight, so that they could still see and hear what was going on, but the audience couldn't see or hear them. Brown was pumping up the crowd, getting them to scream their excitement, even joining in with them. To Mitchie, the noise was deafening, but after a moment, Brown cut them off, a broad smile on his face.

"Does anyone know what will happen tonight?" he asked the crowd, his voice excited, booming through the theater.

There was a roar as the campers began answering it all at once, and Brown had to raise his voice to be heard, even over the powerful microphone he was using.

"Tonight, music history will be made once more as we declare a new Final Jam winner!" he declared, and the crowd screamed and clapped excitedly. "And not only that, but tonight, for the very first time in _three _years, my dear nephew, Shane Gray, will be performing with a _camper_, making Camp Rock history! Now who's psyched about that?"

It seemed everyone was.

"This isn't helping my nerves," Mitchie murmured as the crowd applauded once more. "They're expecting a lot..."

"We can win this," Shane said reassuringly. "I've told you this."

Mitchie laughed softly. "Right now, I'm not thinking about winning. I'm just thinking about getting through this with my spaghetti dinner still in my stomach."

"You will," Caitlyn responded, coming up behind her, laptop in hand. "Things will be fine."

"I hope you're right."

"I am right," Caitlyn said.

"Just take deep breaths and you'll be fine," Shane said. "I'm always nervous when I perform, but just taking deep breaths helps. Calms me down, gets me focused on what I'm trying to do."

"I'll try," Mitchie said, quickly turning to look at the stage as Brown cut off the applause once more.

"Some of you may also remember what happened the last time my nephew came!" Brown said to the audience. "Shane Gray, along with fellow members of Connect Three, allowed the winner of Final Jam to perform with them in a recording studio last year, and guess what? The same thing is going to happen this year!"

Again, applause.

Mitchie turned to Shane, shock written all over her face.

"You didn't tell me about that!" she said.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Shane responded.

"Isn't that rigged, though?" Caitlyn pointed out. "I mean, if you're performing with Mitchie, then the judges will already get a chance to hear you perform, so doesn't that mean you'd automatically have a better shot than anyone else?"

"You'd think that," Shane said, "but the judges are fair: they don't judge it on who we perform with, they judge it on musical skill, not on collaboration. So we could be the best duet-singers in the world, but that still doesn't mean they'd want us to actually record together unless the winner _is _the best singer. Does that make sense?"

"A bit," Caitlyn said.

The applause coming from the Camp Rock theater died down a bit, and Brown continued speaking.

"Along with that _marvelous _prize, you will also receive a special Camp Rock trophy—and quite a big one, I might add—" he showed the audience the rough size of the trophy, which caused a few newcomers to the camp to gasp—"and your name in the new Camp Rock Hall of Fame!" More applause. "These are amazing prizes, so to make sure the right camper is chosen, we have asked some of the biggest stars in music to come and judge! Give it up for Matthew Laurence, Heather Donahue, and Jaclyn Rose!"

At the judges' table, a tall, handsome man with dark brown hair and startling green eyes stood up, followed by a short, slim red-haired woman with attractive blue eyes and a black-haired teenage girl.

There was thunderous applause.

"How did Brown get _Heather Donahue?_" Mitchie asked, staring at Shane. "I heard she's really hard to get ahold of!"

"She is," Shane said. "I have no clue how he has the connections, but apparently he does. At least this way they'll make sure the right singer is chosen and, even if they choose the wrong one, Connect Three can review their choice."

Mitchie nodded. "Cool."

"And now," Brown finally said, "give it up for the winner of last year, Peggy DuPree, singing with her best friend, Ella!"

People did indeed give it up. As soon as Brown ran backstage and gestured for the music to begin, Peggy and Ella began their performance. It was quite unlike Ella's performance with the Hasta La Vista Crew last year, and yet very different from Peggy's solo (or at least she thought it was, considering Mitchie hadn't been there to hear any of it), but it grabbed the audience's attention all the same. Mitchie was struck by how well their two different tones of voice managed to harmonize together and how their performance expressed so much raw _passion_—it was amazing.

"They're great," Mitchie whispered to Shane.

He looked impressed as well. "Yeah, they are."

Of course, _everyone _performing at Final Jam was great, whether it was Peggy and Ella's first performance, the Hasta La Vista Crew's catchy tune (complete with trampolines), Tess's slightly arrogant and pop star-y lyrics that involved, once again, mirrors (without the fall and embarrassing ending, of course), or the numerous other groups and singers that performed.

With each performance, however, Mitchie grew more and more nervous and, when Brown announced there were only two more performances, Mitchie knew she was shaking like a leaf.

"Come on, we can do this," Shane whispered to her. "I'm going to the entrance of the theater now. We need to be in our places before Brown announces us. You'll be okay, won't you?"

Mitchie nodded, even though the intense feeling of nausea in her stomach told her otherwise. "I'll be fine," she said, managing a small smile. "Go ahead. I think all I need is to just start singing. Then things will get better."

"All right," Shane said. He reached for the table with the microphones, picking one up, then slipped out of the backstage room, down the hall, and toward the place they had designated for him to remain until halfway through their performance.

Now there was only Caitlyn and Mitchie in their group and soon Caitlyn would have to be separated from her.

"Don't worry," Caitlyn said. "You'll do great."

Mitchie nodded, trying not to act like she was a pathetic loser who couldn't sing in front of a group of people without feeling like she wanted to throw up. She closed her eyes, hoping that the next performance would last a long time to give her time to get herself together, but the second to last performance went by quickly, and soon Brown was on the stage again.

"We're just about finished," Brown proclaimed, "but we have one more performance, one that I'm sure you've all been waiting for. So, put your hands together for Mitchie Torres, Caitlyn Gellar, and my nephew, Shane Gray!"

"Let's do this," Caitlyn whispered, hugging Mitchie tightly and pressing a microphone into her hand. As Brown ran backstage once more, Caitlyn untangled herself from the crowd, running to the other end of the stage, where she would begin the music. Mitchie waited for what felt like a second to her nerves for the music to begin and, once it did, she took one deep breath, stepping out into the public eye, out on the stage, for the very first time in her life.

She began singing, the words and the moves she had choreographed with Caitlyn and Shane running through her mind.

_I've always been the kind of girl  
__That hid my face  
__So afraid to tell the world  
__What I've got to say_

Mitchie's voice was low and hesitant even to her own ears at the beginning but, as she got into the song and walked to the back of the stage, toward the center, she felt the words swelling inside her chest, pushing her nervousness firmly down. The next words came quickly, easily, as she turned her back to the audience, allowing them to hear her voice, not see her face.

_But I have this dream  
__Bright inside of me  
__I'm gonna let it show, it's time  
__To let you know  
__To let you know_

She moved to the rhythm of the music, smiling broadly as the music swept into the chorus and she turned. Her hair flew around her face as she began the chorus, but she didn't care, merely focusing on the words of _her _song.

_This is real, this is me  
__I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
__Gonna let the light shine on me_

She switched her microphone to her other hand.

_This __**is **__where I'm supposed to be. I __**am **__letting the light shine on me._

_Now I've found who I am  
__There's no way to hold it in_

As if to express that, she swept her arm out, moving to the beat of the music. She was so caught up in actually singing, her nervousness all but entirely evaporated by now, that she didn't notice anything excepther voice and the music.

_No more hiding who I wanna be_

_I haven't hidden who I want to be for a month now._

_And I'm not about to start._

_This is me_

_It definitely is._

_Do you know what it's like  
__To feel so in the dark  
__To dream about a life  
__Where you're the shining star_

Her hand went up, quickly and nearly imperceptibly pointing to the audience watching her every move, hearing her every word, their eyes widening as they realized that this song was the one that had captivated _the _Shane Gray.

_Even though it seems  
__Like it's too far away_

She moved around the back of the stage, letting her feet dictate where she was going.

_I have to believe in myself  
__It's the only way_

She returned to her original position, her heart beating quickly as her hand went up to press against it for a moment before falling back to her side.

_This is real  
__This is me_

Mitchie brought her head down, getting more power in her voice, then brought it up, her hair obscuring her view for a split second before she moved, shaking her hair back into its original position.

_I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
__Gonna let the light shine on me_

Both hands went up, her right reaching behind her head to brush against her hair.

_I never thought I'd enjoy having the light shine on me this much._

_Now I've found who I am  
__There's no way to hold it in  
__No more hiding who I wanna be  
__This is me..._

-

Shane watched Mitchie's performance from the front of the Camp Rock theater, right in front of the long walkway leading up to the main stage. Since the entire theater except the stage was bathed in darkness, he wasn't noticeable, so he was free to stand right at the beginning of the walkway, the hand gripping his microphone growing a bit sweaty.

As he watched, there was no other word for it: Shane was _amazed_.

He knew what her voice was like, sure, but he had never imagined that she would take so naturally to the stage, considering how nervous she had been before actually going out there and doing it. Mitchie looked like she was born to be on the stage—she didn't seem to notice the audience at all, and Shane knew how hard that was to accomplish.

_She was worried for nothing..._

He smiled as Mitchie got further into the song. As she swept into the second verse and eased into the chorus for a second time, Shane readied himself. This was it. This was their performance, and he couldn't let her down now.

_This is me..._

Mitchie stopped singing. Shane waited a heartbeat, then joined in, stepping out of the shadows, onto the dimly lit walkway.

_You're the voice I hear inside my head  
__The reason that I'm singing_

A smile spread across Mitchie's face as she heard him sing. Shane took a few more steps forward.

_I need to find you  
__I gotta find you..._

_And I did._

Mitchie stepped down from the back of the stage, moving closer to him.

_You're the missing piece I need  
__The song inside of me_

By now, they were walking toward each other at a quicker pace and Mitchie joined in, a large smile on her face.

_I need to find you  
__I gotta find you_

And they reached each other.

They were now less than a foot away—if he wanted to, he could reach out and touch her, but he knew he couldn't as he stopped singing for a moment, allowing Mitchie's to take center stage.

_This is real  
__This is me_

Passion filled Mitchie's words as she sang those two lines solo.

_Wow. We were good before, but not __**this **__good..._

Shane smiled, joining in once more.

_I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now  
__Gonna let the light shine on me  
__Now I've found who I am  
__There's no way to hold it in_

Their eyes met as they sang and Shane just _knew _his were expressing all the things he had tried to say, but knew he couldn't. Their performance was so much more powerful than he had ever imagined it—if he was concentrating on anything other than Mitchie, and if she was concentrating on anything other than him, he would have thought there was no way they _couldn't _win.

But he wasn't, and he was concentrating just on Mitchie, just on the song.

_No more hiding who I wanna be_

As they sang that line, it was as if their connection deepened. Before they both sang their separate lines, Shane let a small smile show on his face, which Mitchie reciprocated.

_(This is me)  
__You're the missing piece I need  
__The song inside of me_

Shane had no doubt in his mind during that moment that there was something between them that couldn't be explained by mere friendship. They had something... new, something even he couldn't explain.

_I wish I knew what it was._

_(This is me, yeah)  
__You're the voice I hear inside my head  
__The reason that I'm singing_

_How true._

They bound together the separate threads of their song, connecting it in the last chorus, their last chance they had to impress everyone in the Camp Rock Theater, and probably the last time they would ever sing this song together.

_Now I've found who I am_

Shane suddenly felt a need for some sort of physical contact—he reached his free hand out, gripping Mitchie's tightly. She looked surprised for a split second, but the emotion was wiped off in a moment as they wound their song to a close.

_No more hiding who I wanna be_

Their hands rose almost before he realized it.

_This is me..._

Mitchie's smaller hand mirrored Shane's larger one as they broke their contact for a moment, then he heard a small gasp of shock and surprise as Shane moved to intertwine his fingers in hers. He knew it was cliched to say "there were sparks as soon as we touched," but he did feel something new as their hands intertwined, clasping tightly together, as the music ended and people began to applaud.

It seemed they were lost in a trance. Mitchie began to smile, smaller at first, but then it grew larger, until it dominated her whole face. Shane couldn't help smiling back as the hands holding their microphones dropped and he stared at Mitchie, straight into her eyes.

This went on for a moment, but then Mitchie seemed to realize where she was—she abruptly let go of Shane's hand, slowly backing away from him, yet her eyes were still locked with his. He followed her backstage, to where everyone was applauding, even Tess, and smiled at her, only letting his gaze drop from her eyes as Caitlyn practically jumped her, squealing excitedly.

He smiled as his uncle gave him congratulations for his performance, but he couldn't help thinking of only one thing:

That he should have kissed her.

-

**Author's Note**: I loved writing this chapter, I really did. Nervous!Mitchie was fun to write and so was the part where they sang. I love writing songfics, so I really hope you enjoyed reading it. It's a lot like what happened in the movie, but only because I didn't want to change it too much. I guess you could say I made it a bit more realistic (because, really. What are the odds Shane and Mitchie would be able to pull off a duet that amazing without any practice? Come on, they're pretty slim), but I kept it for the most part the same. Hopefully it kept you entertained!

Unfortunately, this is the second to last chapter. I know, it's been a lot of fun, but now that this chapter is written, there's only one more loose end to tie up. (Well, two, if you count the little hint I gave you in the last chapter.) However, this will not be the end. I already have an idea that I'm fleshing out in my head, so I hope you'll check it out. I'm planning on giving you a little sneak peek next chapter in the end author's note, so I hope you'll want to read it.

But anyway. Enough of my blathering. Please review?


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note**: _Wow. _Most of you really seemed to like the last chapter! But this is the last chapter, so a last thank you (for this story anyway) goes to **BoredHpfan**, **NorthernLights25**, **KungFuDuckie-x3**, **SHAWTii328**, **disneygirl95**, **JonasLover22**, **cdaqtcherry**, **Florchuchizz**, **BrazilianPrincess**, **jonasxsister**, **gleamingeyes**, **BlackBeauty613**, **Vrai Amour**, **monko25**, **brucas224**, **XxNickxXxSkanderxX**, **dancerPat**, **Sober Hollywood**, **semicollon00**, **Nicole Kathrine**, **Mina **(anon.), **Maiqu**, **nrisley19892007**, **BornForThisx**, **Cripps13**, **LosingTrack**, **oddball15**, **Babie.13**, **ukranianmira**, **xxburninupxx13**, **Jonaswifey11**, **McSerious**, **hollywoodgal205**, **unbelievably.yours**, **PlzBeMineAt705**, **have-a-cookie**, **JoBrosCupcakeSwirl**, **mamaxunicorn**, **ilovehim x3**, **pink princess 16**, **ErikaEverest**, **blonde-gal**, **jonasfanlover**, **creative-writing-girl13**, **.x.imagine.x.**, **iDreamt**, **ThenxtMrsNickJonas**, **SweetSerenityPeacexRose**, **kokoro192**, **pr0udpnaii x33**, **prettygal6**, **musiclvr21**, **Remedyzero**, **xoAlmostFamous**, **charmedNluckyP3**, **reader **(anon.), **cflat**, **Konnichiwa Minna**, **xoxoKelsey**, **JemiandLolgan4ever.**, **shoppinfreak**, **JaBoyYa**, **Angie-ange**, **x miss magic x**, **epobbp**, **Yuki's Little Girl**, **Andy the Christmas Tree**, **jamierocks5195**, and **PyroLyn**! I'm so glad you all didn't think the chapter was boring, and that you didn't get too terribly mad at me for inserting OCs into the story for the judges, or for not making them kiss at the end. You are all completely amazing.

But without further ado, let me present to you the last chapter of _Second Chances..._

**Second Chances  
**_by PiperPaigePhoebe01_

Chapter Fifteen

It seemed to take ages for the three judges to decide. By the time Brown stepped out in the middle of the stage fifteen minutes after Mitchie had given the performance of her life, everyone backstage seemed to be restless, even Shane. Mitchie, Caitlyn and Shane were in a huddle right next to the stage, shooting nervous looks at each other every once in a while.

During one of these moments, Shane and Mitchie looked up at the same time, meeting each others' eyes. Mitchie shivered at the strange look on his face as he looked at her, looking down. She wasn't accustomed to this. If she was perfectly honest with herself, she knew that the only reason why she had walked away from him on that stage, letting go of his hand so quickly and abruptly, was because she was... _scared._

The look he had given her was new. The way their hands fit together so perfectly was new and she didn't know how to react, so she had walked away. After all, what else _could _she have done?

_I couldn't have leaned forward and kissed him, not in front of all those people..._

She knew that performance wasn't something that could be explained away. No, it was a performance that Shane and Mitchie would both have to confront each other about, considering the _passion _Mitchie had felt coursing through her veins as soon as Shane had started singing and stepped out of the shadows, onto the walkway, and met her eyes.

There was something new between them both. And more than that, something _unexpected._

_I don't know what to do about this._

Mitchie shook her head, ignoring the look Caitlyn gave her. She kept her gaze firmly on the ground until Brown stepped onto the stage, which was when she bolted upright, staring out at the stage, feeling her stomach tie in knots. Shane was right next to her, his eyes firmly on Brown at the stage, and Caitlyn was on her other side, her eyes scanning the audience.

In the middle of the stage, Matthew Laurence, Heather Donahue, and Jaclyn Rose were standing, looking quite happy to be there. Dee, one of the main instructors at Camp Rock, was on the other side of Brown, holding the huge trophy the winner of Final Jam would be receiving. Brown was holding the envelope with the results in it, cutting off the chatter immediately after people spotted him.

"All right, this is the moment we've all been waiting for!" Brown proclaimed, and Mitchie felt she was going to fall down. She grabbed onto the first thing her hand latched onto, her heart beating quickly inside her chest. "The results are in, and the winner of Final Jam this year is—" there was a drumroll, and Brown began slitting open the envelope, slowly, meticulously, and took out the piece of paper inside—"Mitchie Torres!"

There was an explosion of applause, and Mitchie couldn't believe her ears.

"What?" she whispered faintly.

"You won, you won!" Caitlyn said, bouncing up and down. "Now, go!"

Two sets of hands pushed her out onto the stage. Mitchie took a deep breath, then hurried toward Brown, Dee, and the three musicians, everything still having not set in yet. A trophy was pressed into her hands and she was turned to face the crowd, who were screaming and clapping and yelling with approval. Mitchie finally seemed to focus, and she stared out at the crowd, a smile blossoming on her face.

_I won. I won. I actually won._

_I can't believe this. I can't believe it._

Knowing somehow that this action was the right thing to do, she held the trophy above her head, watching as the crowd shrieked their approval. And then she lowered it as Brown began to speak again.

"Congratulations, Mitchie!" he said. "You have now got an opportunity to record with Shane Gray!"

"Wow," Mitchie whispered, still feeling like she was lost in some sort of amazing dream. "Thanks so much."

"Don't thank us," Heather Donahue said, a sparkle in her eye. "You deserved it. Your performance tonight blew us _all _away, and there was no way that we couldn't give you this amazing opportunity."

Mitchie blushed.

"Also," Jaclyn Rose said in a soft voice, "you and Shane have something special. That's just one more reason why we decided you were the best, but not the only reason. You were amazing out there tonight."

"Wow," Mitchie breathed for the second time.

"All right, all right, enough of the sappy stuff!" Brown exclaimed. "It's time for all of our Final Jammers to get ready for the Final Jam session, so sit tight and we'll be with you again in a moment!"

There was more applause and almost before Mitchie realized it, she was backstage once more, getting hugged tightly by Caitlyn and congratulated by everyone else. Mitchie smiled when necessary, thanked everyone, and turned to the back of the room, wanting to get something to drink before doing the Final Jam session, but abruptly met Shane's eyes once more.

"Oh," she whispered softly.

"Congratulations," Shane said, looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face at first, but as she looked at him, his look changed almost imperceptibly, a smile on his face.

"Thanks," she said.

"Can you meet me by the canoes tonight after everything is over?" Shane asked quickly, almost as if he would lose his nerve if he didn't... but no, Shane never lost his nerve, so that couldn't be it. "I want to talk to you about something."

"Sure," Mitchie said.

Shane's smile grew a bit more. Mitchie smiled back, but she couldn't help her brain as it kicked into overdrive. Questions of all sorts ran through her mind constantly, but she shook them off.

She'd find out after Final Jam, not a moment before, so she might as well find a place to put her trophy, come to terms with what had just happened to her, and still have time to get ready for the last Jam of the year. Of course, it seemed her problem with having Shane permanently on her mind had not been disappeared. Apparently its grip had only slackened a bit, but now, in the midst of all the chaos of Final Jam, it was _just _her luck that she couldn't get that dark-haired, brown-eyed pop star named Shane Gray out of her head.

_I wonder what he wants to talk about..._

-

The Final Jam session, luckily for her, seemed to pass by in a blur of singing, applause, and congratulating crowds. Before she knew it, she was standing next to their green canoe, pacing back and forth, rubbing her arms to try and warm them up. She had been out there for at least ten minutes, but Shane had still not arrived. Wishing she had stopped in her cabin for a jacket before heading down here, she slid down to the ground, resting her back against the canoe. If Shane didn't arrive soon, she was going to head back to her cabin.

_I'll meet him there if he can't get free in time._

_After all, I don't think he'll want me freezing to death..._

Fortunately, at that very same moment, there was a rustling from the forest and the cracking of a few twigs. A second later, Shane emerged, removing a few stray leaves from his jacket.

"Hey," Mitchie said, standing up.

"Hey," Shane greeted. As soon as he saw her, he smiled. "You came."

"Of course I did," Mitchie said, "but I wasn't so sure about you. I thought you weren't going to show up. What took you so long?"

"Do you know how hard it is for a member of Connect Three to escape a crowd of people all wanting an autograph?" Shane asked. "Let me tell you, it's not easy. Normally, I'd have Nate and Jason distract them while I slip away, but it looks like Nate was too busy with Caitlyn to notice me. And Jason apparently got someone to build his birdhouse, and he went to see it."

"Nate was too busy with _Caitlyn?" _Mitchie said, only latching onto that one phrase. "Do you mean—?"

"Yes, I mean that Nate and Caitlyn are apparently together," Shane said. "Believe me, it struck me as an odd match too."

"Nah, it doesn't sound odd to me," Mitchie responded. "Caitlyn's been talking about Nate for a while. I think he's always been her favorite member of Connect Three. They might've hit it off at Beach Jam. Didn't he disappear for a while there?"

Shane glanced at her. "I think he did, thinking about it now."

Mitchie laughed. "Wow. I can't believe this. Caitlyn, the one who slapped you, is with Nate. You're closer than brothers, aren't you?"

"Brothas from another motha," Shane said in a fake gangster tone, causing Mitchie to dissolve into a fit of giggles.

"The gangster look does not suit you, Shane," Mitchie said through fits of laughter. "I think you'd better stay with the arrogant rock star image. At least that one you can pull off."

Shane pretended to look offended. "Are you calling me a poser?"

"Maaaybe," Mitchie said, grinning at Shane.

Shane couldn't help it; he dissolved into laughter as well. For a moment, that was all there was, but then, suddenly, Shane stopped laughing. He looked at Mitchie, a strange look on his face.

"Mitchie, I think there's something we should talk about," Shane said. "We only have a few minutes before we have to be back in our cabin."

"Okay," Mitchie said, shivering as a gust of cold air brushed against her bare arms. Immediately, Shane looked at her, the strange look getting immediately replaced by one of concern.

"Are you cold?"

"No, I'm fine," Mitchie said, but Shane didn't listen.

"Here," he murmured, slipping out of his black leather jacket and handing it to her. "I can handle the cold." Mitchie opened her mouth to protest, but Shane didn't let her. "No, just take it. I'll be fine."

Mitchie nodded, slipping into Shane's leather jacket, which smelled like a mixture of pine, cinnamon, worn-in leather and something else she couldn't quite place, but something that was distinctly Shane-smelling. Before she knew it, she was warming up and she was letting the smell of the jacket wrap around her like one of her favorite blankets from home. She smiled at Shane.

"Thanks," she said.

"Don't mention it," Shane said.

There was a heartbeat of silence. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"What happened on stage tonight," Shane quickly said. "Mitchie, you were _amazing _out there. I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were that good, and... when I joined it, and we sang together, I felt something... different. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was nice. Was I the only one who felt like there was something more between us than friendship?"

Mitchie looked down, gathering Shane's too-large jacket around her a bit tighter.

"Mitchie?"

"No, you weren't," she whispered, coming to terms with what she _had _felt but wouldn't admit. "I've been feeling that for a while, but it was more powerful, I guess, tonight. It made me feel there's more between us than friendship, like you said."

Shane met her gaze. "Do you think there is?"

"I just said yeah," Mitchie whispered, wondering where this was going.

"Do you want there to be?" he asked suddenly.

"I..." That question took Mitchie by surprise. "I don't know. I mean, this past month has been so unstable, and we've only really been friends for less than a month, so should we risk a... a... a—"

Mitchie couldn't say it.

"A relationship?" Shane prompted.

"Yeah," Mitchie whispered in a low voice. "I like us being friends and I don't want to lose... this, whatever _this_ is. What if we... get together and something like last summer and the beginning of this summer happens? You know what they say: friends can become boyfriend and girlfriend, but if you break up with them, your chance for friendship is basically gone. I don't want that to happen."

"Do you think it will?" Shane asked.

"It might," Mitchie responded. "Our first... attempt at a friendship evaporated. We gave each other a second chance, but how long can this second chance last? It might run out, and then what?"

"I don't think it will," Shane said candidly. "Personally, I felt whatever that feeling was too, and I think it's strong enough to carry us through pretty much anything. I still don't have a clue what it is, but I know what it's not: it's definitely not friendship. If it was, I wouldn't have gotten the urge to kiss you like I did. I want to take our second chance, the one we both gave each other, as far as we can, but I won't if you don't want to."

Mitchie nearly melted at those statements.

_He's being so sweet and kind and... and... _

_Second chances._

_I gave him a second chance. We're now friends, closer than I ever thought we could be, and I already know that we both have feelings for each other now... how far __**can **__we take this second chance? I don't want to ruin our friendship, but..._

_Is it worth the risk?_

Mitchie shivered, but not from the cold, and Shane seemed to realize she was thinking, because he didn't say anything. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of a few crickets chirping in the distance, but then Mitchie abruptly made a decision.

"I want to see how far this second chance will take us," she whispered, staring up at him.

"Good," Shane whispered back.

And with that, Shane snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. Their eyes met. For a moment, they simply stared at each other, almost drinking in each others' gaze, and then Shane leaned down, pressing his lips to hers in a soft, hesitant, but still passionate kiss. Mitchie's arms went around his neck, playing with the ends of Shane's long hair, and Mitchie knew she had made the right decision.

The kiss seemed to both last an eternity and yet be over in a second and, as they broke off the kiss, Mitchie smiled softly, Shane's smile following a mere second after hers.

"Thank God for second chances," Shane whispered to her.

Mitchie couldn't help it—she laughed.

Shane laughed with her and then, pulling her ever closer, pressed his lips firmly to hers one more time.

**Fin.**

-

**Author's Note**: So there you have it. The conclusion of my most successful story to date, _Second Chances. _I hope the ending chapter did not disappoint you! This story is the one I'm most proud of and, without you readers and reviewers, it would not be as good as it is, so a HUGE thank you goes to everyone who reviewed my story, added it to their favorites and/or alert lists, or who just read it and enjoyed it. Without you, I don't think this story would have gone past the second chapter or been as good as it is, so I am definitely indebted to you all.

Thanks so much for reading and enjoying this story. Please review it one last time and tell me what you think? Another huge thank you in advance for those who will take time out and review it.

But also, one last note before I leave you all to review: as I said in my last chapter's end authors' note, I am about to start a new story. The first chapter will probably be up tomorrow or the next day but to give you a little teaser, I'm going to give you the summary I'm planning on submitting to FFnet. Hope it encourages you all to want to go out and read it! Here it is:

_She is a popstar that just wants to have a normal life. He is a cocky rockstar that needs an attitude adjustment. When their paths cross, they couldn't be more different, but fate has the habit of playing the strangest tricks on people... AU. ShaneMitchie._

I don't have a title yet, but that's something you guys could perhaps help with. So, I hope that summary encourages you all to check it out when I get it posted, but I'll stop blabbering again.

Please review!


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